Two strategy projects can both end in a roadmap.
One client has a clear owner, reliable data, and aligned leadership. Another has five stakeholders, contradictory goals, and a new executive who wants to revisit discovery after the work is underway. The deck can have the same number of slides. The project cannot have the same price logic.
Take an illustrative $10,000 fixed-fee engagement. You remember 45 hours of analysis, workshops, and presentation work and assume an effective rate of about $222 an hour. Then you count the surrounding work:
The real total is 97 hours. The illustrative effective rate is about $103 an hour.
The fee may still be good. The useful question is whether you expected to sell 97 hours.
Retainers create a quieter version of the same problem. A client pays for access, then “access” expands into extra calls, document review, urgent questions, and work that used to be a separate project. If you do not track internally, a retainer can feel predictable while your week becomes less so.
Scope creep often starts with professional generosity. You can still be generous. Tympi helps you know the cost of the choice.
Organize discovery, research, interviews, analysis, workshops, deliverables, revisions, and follow-up as tasks within the project. Hourly work, fixed-fee work, and retainers can all be tracked internally even when the billing model differs.
Use timers for analysis, preparation, calls, workshops, revisions, and support. Auto-stop protects against forgotten sessions. Separate billable from non-billable time so relationship work and delivery work remain visible without being confused.
When a new stakeholder requests interviews or a workshop gains another deliverable, look at the running total. Decide whether it fits the original fee, replaces existing scope, or needs a change. Evidence makes the conversation easier than “this is starting to feel bigger.”
At closeout, compare estimated and actual hours. If your roadmap engagements repeatedly require 90 hours and you need $140 an hour, the illustrative fee target is $12,600. That is not a standard consulting rate. It is what your own delivery model requires.
Turn approved time into clear invoice lines, apply client rates, create a branded PDF, and track paid, unpaid, and overdue status. The work record remains connected to revenue rather than living in a task tool that stops at “done.”
A connected workflow helps answer:
Tympi does not need to turn a solo practice into a miniature corporation. It gives the practice a memory: who the work was for, what happened, how long it took, and what was billed.
Track one engagement from discovery through handoff. Include preparation, interviews, analysis, meetings, workshops, revisions, and follow-up. Compare the estimate with the full delivery record. Then use what you learned before the next proposal or retainer renewal.
Track your next engagement free
Free plan - 5 clients, 5 projects, 50 time logs, and 3 invoices per month. No card.
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