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Going IT Alone: The Handbook for Freelance and Contract Software Developers

By : Leon Brown
Book Image

Going IT Alone: The Handbook for Freelance and Contract Software Developers

By: Leon Brown

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Going IT Alone: The Handbook for Freelance and Contract Software Developers
Leon Brown
Dec, 2016 | 376 pages
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Table of Contents (19 chapters)
Going IT Alone: The Handbook for Freelance and Contract Software Developers
Going IT Alone: The Handbook for Freelance and Contract Software Developers
Credits
Credits
About the Author
About the Author
Acknowledgements
Acknowledgements
About the Reviewer
About the Reviewer
Preface
Preface
Free Chapter
1
Introducing Freelancing
Introducing Freelancing
The freelance lifestyle
Is freelancing for you?
Defining your motivations
Don't quit the day job
Legal entities
Home or away?
Summary
2
Positioning Yourself in the Market
Positioning Yourself in the Market
Market segments
Pricing yourself appropriately
Building quality for market segments
Market research
Summary
3
Defining Your Business Model
Defining Your Business Model
Types of business model for software
Software Development as a Service (SDaaS)
Software as a Product (SaaP)
Software as a Service (SaaS)
Software Supporting a Service
Business Model Canvas
Components
Canvas
Problem tools
Product life cycle
Five Forces Analysis
Seven Domains Assessment framework
The McKinsey 7S framework
Fitting everything together
The business descriptions
Comparison: McKinsey 7S framework
Comparison – Business Model Canvas
Comparison: conclusion
Summary
4
Creating a Brand
Creating a Brand
A brief definition of what branding is and isn't
Know your audience
Identify perceptions required for objectives
Specializing – becoming a domain expert
Generalizing – targeting a wider audience
Kick starting perceptions
Who do they think you are?
Summary
5
Networking, Marketing, and Sales
Networking, Marketing, and Sales
Understanding networking
Defining a networking strategy
Writing press releases
Open project sources
The sales process
Summary
6
An Introduction to Client Types
An Introduction to Client Types
The ethical client
The difficult client
The trusting client
The nasty client
The price-conscious client
Summary
7
Managing Clients
Managing Clients
Points of contact
Performing risk assessment of the project
Analyzing the client
Cash flow issues
Summary
8
Negotiation
Negotiation
The Winning Formula
Strategic Negotiation Phases
Summary
9
Software Development Resources, Patterns and Strategies
Software Development Resources, Patterns and Strategies
Software problems: A recap
Rescued by object oriented programming
Strategic efficiency with MVC
Strategic data management
API-oriented system architecture
Testing strategy
Security considerations
Version control
Summary
10
Software Development Methodology
Software Development Methodology
Social factors of software development
Features for preventing problems
Methodologies of interest
Designing your methodology
Summary
11
Creating Quotes and Estimates
Creating Quotes and Estimates
Maths to the rescue: The basics
Risk management
Recovering unaccounted costs
Maintaining estimation accuracy
Summary
12
Project Management
Project Management
Client perceptions
Methods of communication
Allocating the right people
Written agreements
Feature creep
Risk assessment
Defining a specification
Feedback
Release cycles
Summary
Appendix
Appendix
Interview 2
Interview 3
Interview 4
Interview 5
Interview 6

Chapter 3. Defining Your Business Model

A business model defines how a business idea can be operated in a way that is profitable. All businesses are unique in some way or another, with many taking an influence from competitors using proven business models that have delivered success. Knowing what makes a business model, and how to adapt them to match the environment you operate in, can maximize your chances of being successful.

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