punch in/punch out

I've been thinking a lot about the blog post by designer Jessica Hische on getting paid, looking at the "dark art of pricing" and specifically, the reasons to charge hourly rates, and the reasons not to. There are situations, as Hische explains, where hourly rates are good -- mainly so we, as a design team, don't end up paying for other people's disorganization, which normally amounts in an unusual and (and unaccounted for) number of revisions and modifications, and hours of unanticipated work. With hourly rates, you don't have to worry about project creep, as much. You can send regular invoices itemizing the work you've been doing, with an hourly breakdown. That said, I think part of the appeal of doing creative work (for me) is also somewhat in breaking with this kind of timekeeping and hourly assessment of work, including all the administrative work that follows, to track productivity. Plus, as Hische points out, there's no logic to being paid less the better you get at your job. Not to say that faster is better, but like in anything else, if you don't become more efficient over time doing what you do best, there's a problem.

At the end of her summary on how hourly pricing ends up punishing efficiency, Hische asks: "So if you aren’t pricing hourly, how DO you price?"
I bet clients wonder about this, too.
It's a good question.
But there are also many good answers to this... which I will blog about later.