Eighteen years ago today I first became an independent consultant.  I was still employed at CPAS in Pensacola, Florida for two more months.  Afterwards, I moved to Gulf Breeze, Florida where I set up shop for a few more years.

While visiting Synergex in October of 1993, I helped them lay plans for porting their products to the Windows platform.  I could see that if I were to be helpful in this massive project, I would need to be there constantly.  So I moved in January, 1994 to Sacramento and thence to Rancho Cordova, California.  I met my wife at Synergex, and moved into her house in Folsom.  The two of us decided in 2000 to move to Bainbridge Island, Washington — which is where I live and work today.

Here are eighteen maxims from my eighteen years of experience.

Following are ten promises I make to my clients.  I first published this in an article on TechRepublic.

1. The time for which you are paying me is yours and only yours. I will eliminate other distractions and focus on the set of problems you have entrusted to me.
2. I will always tell you the truth even when it hurts. It’s better for you to find out sooner than later.
3. I will try to accurately estimate time requirements when they are requested, but I will also qualify those estimates according to the level of additional research required and with knowledge of my own availability and optimism.
4. I will keep you regularly updated on my progress. I will break down the elements of my accomplishments to whatever level of detail you require.
5. I will only perform work for which you have given your approval. However, I will actively look beyond the narrow limits of my project for opportunities and risks that you may have overlooked and bring those to your attention when I find them.
6. When I don’t know something, I won’t try to hide behind a facade of expertise. Instead, I’ll ask pertinent questions and (with your approval) conduct additional research.
7. I will do my best to share my knowledge, to document my work, and to make it as understandable as possible. I will never bake in obfuscations to insure job security.
8. If someone else is better qualified to handle an assignment, I’ll tell you. It’s more important for me to get the job done right than to hold onto a certain number of billable hours for myself. (I expect that attitude to pay its own dividends in the long run.)
9. My recommendations will be based on what I perceive to be best suited to your needs in the present and future. I will not let myself be unduly swayed by considerations of what technology is currently in fashion or is more interesting to me personally.
10. In short, I will treat you as I would like to be treated if I were your client.

Gee but it’s great to be back home.

I returned late on Friday night from a productive trip to Synergex. Back in the early ’90s, I used to travel so often that I kept a bag packed and ready to leave at a moment’s notice. Nowadays, I travel so infrequently that just preparing for and winding down from a trip takes a day or two in itself.

I’ll be catching up on things that happened while I was away, and “just trying to keep my customers satisfied”.

Welcome to the new camdensoftware.com. After 11 years of using my own home-grown design, I finally updated this site to use WordPress. I’ll be blogging here on business-related topics.

For programming tips, tricks, and examples, see Chip’s Tips for Developers.

For my personal blog, see Chip’s Quips.

I also write weekly on the IT Consultant blog at TechRepublic, and occasionally at [Geeks are Sexy] Technology News.