What a scoping call is actually for

Free scoping calls get treated with suspicion sometimes — the assumption is it's a sales pitch wearing a different hat. Fair, given how the phrase gets used elsewhere. Here's what actually happens on one.

The real agenda

Three questions, in roughly this order:

1. What's the actual problem, underneath the feature request? People ask for the solution they've already half-designed in their head. Sometimes it's the right one. Sometimes the real problem is smaller, or different, once we talk it through.
2. Does this need building at all? Occasionally the honest answer is a spreadsheet, a setting in a tool you already own, or nothing — the problem turns out not to be worth solving yet. I'd rather tell you that for free than bill you to discover it.
3. What's the right shape for this — and the right pricing model? Fixed price if the scope is genuinely knowable. Hourly if it isn't. Daily rate if it's ongoing embedded work. That decision happens here, not after the quote.

Why it's free

Because charging for it would change the incentive — I'd want the call to end in "yes, build it," rather than the answer actually being the right one. Free removes that pressure from both sides.

What you walk away with

Whether or not we work together, a clearer idea of what the problem actually is. That's worth fifteen minutes on its own.