In the beginning, I signed a couple of NDAs (non-disclosure agreements), yes we all make mistakes, until I realized this was utterly stupid.
Let me summarize why wasting my time with a NDA is stupid:
- Huge time investment. In an ideal world, NDAs would be clear, precise (i.e. restricted to the project on hand) and short. In reality, you need to read them very carefully (which takes a lot of time) to really understand what you are signing.
- This time investment comes BEFORE getting paid. Worse, it comes even before you agree to my price for the project. Even worse! it comes before I get the chance to check your data in order to know whether your project is something I´d be interested in. Also, given our fees, even if you end up paying for the service, the cost in hours of processing the NDA just makes it not worth.
- Even if you finally decide not to contract our services for the project I still have to comply with the NDA agreement. So for zero money I have a life-long obligation!!!
- We already say in our terms and conditions that we won’t disclose your data. Asking to sign a NDA just proves that you don’t trust us. This is not the best way to start a relationship.
- And in fact, I don´t even understand why people want us to sign a NDA when the data they want to migrate is already public. In fact, most likely, they would like as many people as possible to see that data.
Probably NDAs have a reason to exist but definitely not in my business.
NDA’s are just not worth the time and put me off totally. Sometimes the clients think they’ve got the best money making idea in the universe, so they must send out an NDA before even discussing what the project is about. I stop caring when I read the initials N-D-A together.