Fixed price or time-and-materials? How we scope operational software

The problem with T&M

Time-and-materials feels lower-risk for the agency and higher-risk for the client. Every hour is billed regardless of whether it produces value. Scope creep is the client's problem. Budget overruns are the client's problem. The incentives are misaligned from day one.

We don't work that way. Every OpenLoop engagement is fixed scope and fixed price. We absorb the delivery risk because we control the process.

How fixed price actually works

Fixed price only works if the scope is precise. That's why we spend the first two weeks of any engagement doing nothing but discovery: mapping workflows, identifying edge cases, understanding the existing infrastructure, and writing a detailed spec.

By the end of discovery, we know exactly what we're building. The proposal that follows is a commitment, not an estimate. The client knows what they're getting, what it costs, and what the measurable outcome will be.

What this means for you

You don't go into a budget review wondering what the project will cost. You don't get a call three months in telling you the original estimate was off. And you don't get a system that works differently from what you were shown in demos.

Fixed price is a discipline. It requires us to do the hard thinking upfront. That's a better use of two weeks than spending six months finding out the scope wasn't right.