[dub]

Figuring out how to reward simplicity, reliability, and maintainability feels like one of the most important unsolved social/human/economic issues in the software industry.

Seems there's only incentive to simplify at small companies where the employees feel they can save their own time or increase the value of their equity by delivering value to customers more efficiently. At large companies employees work 40-hour weeks regardless of their output and they're trying to impress a performance review committee, not customers.

[danieljacksonno]

Stop billing hourly. Instead bill for the value you provide. How you provide it should be immaterial, and so you can do it as cheaply and efficiently as possible while still reaping heaps of money as long as it creates value.

That's how all other markets work. Billing hourly is the death of progress.