Ask HN: web dev houses, how do you handle continual improvement?

5 points by jamesotron 15 years ago | 2 comments

So, your customer says "give me a website that does X", you say "sure" and go about throwing together an app to meet the spec. What happens after the jobs done and there is a new framework release, or a security problem with the existing app? How do you handle approaching the client for additional funding to "keep the rails version fresh" or "fix a potential issue with XSS"? Do you bake it into your initial contract? The whole thing seems fraught with danger to me.

frossie 15 years ago |

Well I'm not at all your target audience for this question, but this is a standard software issue. The important thing to remember is that we developers care a lot more about software versions than "civilians" do; and the real reason we care is that we know that an up-to-date installation is easier to maintain.

In other words, in the paid software world I expect this is covered under maintenance contracts. The person holding the maintenance contract may or may not be the original developer I suppose - but surely those issues are covered in their agreement.

bjplink 15 years ago |

I have maintenance deals with almost 100% of my clients (either with a monthly fee or a by-the-hour agreement). The only time I don't charge is when the error or problem is a direct result of something I've done.

I have an industry specific suite of content management systems and utilities so typically a mistake found by one client is a problem for them all. Not charging for fixing your own mistakes helps generate a little goodwill.