[blunte]

These would typically be short, time-boxed engagements (like one or two hours or less).

For example, some years ago I was trying to setup a Stellar (cryptocurrency) node, but I was having some problems with configuration. I asked on the Stellar slack or discord group and found someone who was willing to help. We negotiated $100/hr, and then we arranged a time to meet online. In the end, I paid for 1.5 hours of time, and it was well worth it. If he had solved my problem in 5 minutes, I would have still paid for a minimum 1 hour; win-win.

It seems like there could be a matchmaking service to facilitate exchanges like this. It's a bit like how you can go to stackoverflow, and if you happen to see a question you know the answer to but which has no answers, you may choose to take 5 minutes (for free!) and answer it.

In this case, however, requests would expire after a specified time. Solution providers could setup notifications for certain topics so they know when there's a need for their expertise.