Travis Vocino Experiments in Art, Science & Technology.

When talking to James Mathias about a recent project, Dine Magazine’s site and infrastructure, we touched on how many designers and developers lose money on jobs because they don’t bill for their thoughts.

Most companies don’t seem to realize that a large part of creative technology work is simply thinking. “How do you solve this problem?” or “What’s the best way to deploy these features while dealing with the constraints of the client’s budget?”

Questions like these are always the starting points for a new project and usually get carried on throughout. New problems inevitably arise while the project evolves and those need to be thought on and solved. Thinking isn’t as easy as you might imagine, either.

Recently, in producing video mockups for various Olivia Munn media at Complex, the starting place at the beginning of the thought process and where we ultimately ended up were light-years apart. Even though the original work wasn’t a direction we wanted to go, that development process facilitated the creation of the end result — and that result is better because of it. By “original work” I might just mean playing in Photoshop, screwing around with your favorite camera for an hour to get ideas, or simply sitting back in your den and browsing inspirational books.

This might seem like a crazy concept to some people. After all, sometimes this might mean billing for seriously intangible timeframes. Spaces in time dedicated to soul searching, almost. You might even be tempted to call this practice a bit shady or dishonest. Well, I assure you this is not the case at all.

I’m exceptionally diligent about my time-tracking for clients I consult for. I have an arsenal of tools I use to log my dedication with Mars Lander-like percision. iPhone hacks, dashboard widgets, web applications and more. Rarely, if ever, is time logged that is more that 1 or 2 seconds longer (or shorter, for that matter) than need be.

When I talk about thought time, I’m talking serious thought time. When I start the clock on something like that for a client, I’m highly and efficiently dedicated to solving the problem at hand. If it’s a technology development issue I’m actively looking for a specific bit of code, open-source solution, new way of thinking, contractor to crunch it or innovative work-around. Similarly, if it’s on the design end, I’m immersed in the user’s or audience’s perspective. I’m pursuing inspiration, moving elements around in Photoshop in tactical art experiments in order to get something that sticks, and thinking outside the web design space in nature or external source material for new creative sparks.

Keep in mind, this is what good clients pay for. They want more than a chop shop style churn-out of so-called creative technology solutions (remember I said good clients). So, just like a plumber bills you as soon as he starts thinking about how to solve your toilet problems, you should be invoicing your clients for the time you’re dedicated and immersed in thinking for their company.

So, how do you bill for the thought-power time required for the total project to be a success?