Aries Technology Group Blog » Comic Relief

Let’s Play the Billable Hour Lottery!

John Shaver — Fri, 14 Oct 2011 18:00:32 +0000

The latest video from CPA, VeraSage Fellow and professional comedian, Greg Kyte, makes a brilliant point about how risky it is to pay your attorney, CPA or technology consultant by the hour. You might as well be buying lottery tickets at the local convenience store.

Tired of playing the lottery with your technology projects? If so, then we can show you what it’s like to work with a Firm of The Future…forget about the lottery and work with certainty.

Bob’s Barbecue – The Absurdity of the Billable Hour

John Shaver — Wed, 13 Apr 2011 17:00:06 +0000

I’m always looking for ways to demonstrate the absurdity and inherent risk to businesses like yours who work with software consultants (or CPAs or attorneys) who bill for their time.

This past January at the international VeraSage conference, I was talking with Ron Baker about how we can more effectively get the message out that the only way for a business to know that a software consultant knows what they are doing is by having that consultant provide them with a fixed price for every project.

Ron provided a wonderful insight. The most effective way to demonstrate the absurdity of a particular idea (in this case, the billable hour) is to ridicule it.

Greg Kyte, who is a VeraSage Fellow, CPA and professional stand-up comedian, and I started working on a video lampooning the practice of billing time.

The result is Bob’s Barbecue. It is the first in a series of videos which will depict all of the many ways that the billable hour is harmful and risky for your company.

Standup Philosopher: Otherwise known as a technology consultant

John Shaver — Wed, 27 May 2009 09:00:42 +0000

From time to time, it’s very healthy to take a look at ourselves and our business from a humorous perspective. The day that we stop making fun of ourselves is the day when we stop enjoying life.

So, here is a video that pokes a little fun at consultants. Please let us know if we coalesce too many vapors!

I will warn you that the video contains some colorful language from the Mel Brooks film History of the World, Part 1. If you are offended by 4 letter words, you should probably skip it (although it’s really funny).