Regarding the overall "numbers game" approach, it will work, in the strict sense that the client will get what he asked for, but not in the sense that he will get what he wants.
Most people, when they try to hire me (although they don't realize it) are looking for technical or domain expert feedback. They may think they need such-and-such coded, but in reality they have a business problem that they need solved. More often than not, I can weasel out of them the business problem, and the technical solution to solve it, and it's often not at all what they originally wanted to have me do.
Part of it is that clients vastly overestimate the development time of some types of features, and vastly underestimate the complexity of other types of features, so they cut the wrong stuff from their MVP. In a sense, their project is doomed before they even hire a programmer.
Top technical talent can get and keep you on course in a way that will fix problems you don't even know you have.
Comments
Regarding the overall "numbers game" approach, it will work, in the strict sense that the client will get what he asked for, but not in the sense that he will get what he wants.
Most people, when they try to hire me (although they don't realize it) are looking for technical or domain expert feedback. They may think they need such-and-such coded, but in reality they have a business problem that they need solved. More often than not, I can weasel out of them the business problem, and the technical solution to solve it, and it's often not at all what they originally wanted to have me do.
Part of it is that clients vastly overestimate the development time of some types of features, and vastly underestimate the complexity of other types of features, so they cut the wrong stuff from their MVP. In a sense, their project is doomed before they even hire a programmer.
Top technical talent can get and keep you on course in a way that will fix problems you don't even know you have.