Values

Almost everyone at RoleModel is a follower of Jesus Christ. We're not shy about that. But when a client hires us, we get paid to deliver superior software, not to preach. That is exactly what we'll do. Our faith will not interfere with the work we do. We think it's important, though, for our potential clients to know how our faith affects our work. We believe it augments our ability to deliver. Whether or not our clients share our faith, they will see us work with integrity and no one has ever fired us because of unethical behavior. Our mission and vision reflect this.

Our founder takes the cultivation of his Christian character very seriously. The Bible tells us to be diligent in our work, as if we were doing it for God directly (Colossians 3:23-24). He believes the Bible is clear about how we are supposed to deal with people, including our customers. We are commanded to be honest with everyone, which includes ourselves and our customers (Matthew 5:37). Part of this is admitting when we are wrong and doing whatever is necessary to correct the mistake. Honesty and humility are the bedrock of what we do (Micah 6:8). In fact, this is one of the things that attracts our people to agile development methods and Extreme Programming. It is an honest way to develop software.

People who work for us don't have to share this faith, but they do have to follow one explicit rule: "We don't lie. We don't lie to each other or to our clients. If you do, it is grounds for immediate dismissal."

Think about what this means for a software development effort. When we have too much work to do in too little time, we will be honest. When we could be doing more work, we will be honest. If we make a mistake, we'll admit it and do what's necessary to correct it. We try not to overpromise or underdeliver (although we try to be very conservative in what we promise, and strive to overdeliver). We won't lowball you on a quote, and then start explaining why we need more money because of the change requests that came after we started the project. We know customers will change some of their requests based on the feedback in our process and the fact that the world is not a static place and our client can't anticipate or communicate everything perfectly when they make their initial request, and we take that into consideration in our quotes.

If we think our clients are asking for too much with their limited budget, we'll tell them. If we think they would be wiser to start smaller with a less ambitious budget, we'll tell them. Our goal is to never take a check from anyone who doesn't think we provided good value for that money, and we won't engage with someone whom we think will not be happy in the end.

Don't get the wrong impression. We're not perfect, nor do we think we are. But if you're interested in working with people with the utmost integrity, that's what you're getting with RoleModel.