Guide to the Fractional Developer Plan

First of all, I've received inquiries from multiple clients and prospects about the possibility of contracting me on retainer, so I knew there was demand. Second, I've noticed a trend in online freelance and consulting circles where self-employed individuals, from associates all the way to the C-suite, are offering services on a "fractional" basis to organizations that may not be willing or able to hiring someone with their skillset full-time.

I'll readily admit that I am by no means the first or only person to have this idea. I'm jumping on the bandwagon because I genuinely believe this is a great way for me to offer long-term service contracts to both new and existing clients.

Most types of work performed by a software developer demand several hours of uninterrupted focus. Many developers, including myself, perform their work more efficiently if they can dedicate most, if not the entirety, of each day to a single goal or objective. Knowing this, it seems counterproductive for me to book and bill work by the hour.

I've chosen the "Developer Day" as my unit of fractional freelancing because it lets me divide my availability into units that maximize both the quantity and quality of service I can provide.

The four-hour Developer Day is a data-driven quantity! I've tracked my productivity as a freelancer over time, and found that on an average day, I spend about four hours doing billable work that contributes directly to client deliverables. This includes writing and reviewing code, designing user interfaces and software systems, meeting with clients, writing up reports, and anything else covered as work in the contract.

Where do the remaining hours go? Well, I spend some time on continued training, such as reading software textbooks or getting hands-on experience with new tools and techniques. Other times I'm running my freelance business: consulting with prospects, attending networking events, bookkeeping, invoicing, writing blog posts, updating this website, and much more. So no, I'm not slacking.

Also note that the Developer Day definition does not prevent me from allocating full eight-hour days to clients if you really need that; I just treat each calendar workday as two Developer Days.

The short answer is, it doesn't matter. Or rather, it shouldn't matter to you.

For results-based services such as software development, you should be looking for proof-of-results rather than proof-of-effort. That's why my work report allocates Developer Days directly to the deliverables associated with your initiatives. To determine your return on investment, you only need to answer one question: for each given month, did the value of the services and deliverables I received exceed the monthly service fee?

If the answer is yes, great! If the answer is no, you've identified an inefficiency or misalignment that we should work together to remedy.

While it's true that software development is primarily an outcome-based service, I know that clients still value availability and presence. By reserving Developer Days in advance, I can ensure my availablity to you on a consistent basis each month. Additionally, I am better able to predict my workload and avoid taking on too many clients at once, resulting in higher-quality service to you.

If you have a well-defined scope of work already, and have a good idea of what that work is worth to you, you might be more interested in my fixed-cost Project pricing. You can learn more about that on my Pricing page.

I am happy to accomodate your organization's payroll by shifting the invoice date to the last day of each month. Please note that the monthly service fee is always incurred at the start of the month, regardless of when you receive your invoice.

The monthly service fee calculation considers multiple factors, including but not limited to:

• The quantity of Developer Days purchased per month.
• Current market rates for full-time and freelancer developers with skillsets equivalent to mine.
• The relevancy of my skills and expertise to your business initiatives and technology domains.

That third item is especially important. If your needs are highly aligned with my core skillset, you will pay a higher rate per Developer Day, and in return, you will get more value per Day. If your work requires me to upskill or learn new knowledge domains, your rate will be lower to account for my relatively lower efficiency.

Developer Days need not align one-to-one with calendar days. My primary commitment to you is to allocate time to your requests equivalent to the number of Developer Days you booked. The best approach during a given month might involve splitting a Developer Day across several calendar days.

That said, if you expect to request many small jobs of less than a day's work, and the timing of those jobs is infrequent or unpredictable, the Fractional Developer Plan is probably not the right choice for you. My Pricing page has more information on the other options available.

If your needs change, just let me know as soon as possible and I will pivot as best I can. I rely on you to keep me up to date on the relative priority of your outstanding requests. In return, I keep you up-to-date throughout each month on my progress, and flag any blockers that may risk delaying my work.

If you need additional Developer Days in a given month, you can always request them, and I'll do the best I can to accomodate. If I have the time available, you'll pay the same rate per extra Developer Day as you would have if you pre-paid for them. If I'm already booked, and you have an urgent need for additional work, I offer priority service for an additional fee.

You can request a permanent increase to your Plan's Developer Day allotment at any time.

Because I reserve Developer Days exclusively for you ahead of time, it's not possible to request a one-month discount on your Plan. For this reason, I recommend starting with the minimum number of Developer Days you can confidently utilize, and then increasing that number if you find yourself requesting extra Dev Days each month.

You can request a permanent reduction to your Plan's Developer Day allotment at any time.

Plan contracts usually span three to six months, with an option to renew if both of us agree to continue working together.

You may terminate your Plan at any time. 30 days' notice is required. You will owe the fee for the month in which you cancel, if you haven't paid it already.