I'm available for part-time for Ruby / Rails projects. I work in an agile manner using two week iterations. Each iteration is billed as a flat rate at the conclusion of the iteration. For a typical small to medium size project the Discovery and Release Plan stages will take one iteration.
Process
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Discovery
We begin by defining the goals of the project. Requirements are captured in the form of User Stories. The overall design and feel of the application will be fleshed out using screen mockups.
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Release Plan
Once we have a set of user stories and an overall design, we'll collaborate to create a release plan. The release plan will give you an estimate of the total project scope and cost. We'll also prioritize the user stories and create acceptance tests for the first iteration.
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Iterative Development
Development is done using two week iterations. At the end of each iteration I'll give you a demo of what has been done. Based on your feedback, new stories can be created or re-prioritized. The next set of stories will be selected for the next iteration, acceptance tests created and the release plan will be updated. After an iteration you may also decide to stop development if the application meets your needs, or add new user stories to extend it.