Common Failures, Listed
Twelve ways proof-of-work arrangements go wrong, on both sides, each with the signal and the fix.
On the client side
The requirement was inherited, not decided. Signal: nobody can say what it is for. Fix: ask what you would do with a week of frames.
The issue in “Common Failures, Listed” becomes easier to manage when the record and its limits are explicit. A team reviewing this workforce platform for mouse jiggler detection should choose only the necessary evidence, explain how it will be used and keep a human correction path open.
Nobody reviews the frames. Signal: you cannot remember opening any. Fix: open ten minutes' worth, then decide whether to keep requiring it.
For an independent reference relevant to “Common Failures, Listed”, consult the European Data Protection Board guidelines; compare its principles with the proposed contract, collection, access model and real review process.
It never ends. Signal: still running at month twelve. Fix: a review point in the terms, from the start.
Data held with no plan. Signal: no retention, no deletion, no idea who can view it. Fix: a deletion term and two named viewers.
On the contractor side
Agreed without asking what is captured. Signal: you do not know whether keystrokes are recorded. Fix: the five questions, before signing.
Not priced in. Signal: the same rate for tracked and untracked work. Fix: a stated differential, or fixed price.
No separation. Signal: other clients' material and personal matters on screen during tracked hours. Fix: a profile and fifteen seconds before starting.
No parallel record. Signal: everything lives in the platform. Fix: a folder per client, updated as things are agreed.
On both sides
Awkward time never agreed. Signal: queries about calls, reading and blocked time. Fix: name them in the first exchange.
No overrun warning. Signal: invoices that surprise. Fix: a message at three quarters of the estimate.
No weekly note. Signal: the client checks the tracker. Fix: three lines every Friday, unprompted.
Nothing in writing. Signal: "we discussed that" as the basis of a position. Fix: a confirming message after every verbal agreement.
The pattern
Seven of the twelve are fixed by one conversation at the start.
Three are habits costing minutes a week.
And two are decisions — whether to require it at all, and whether to accept it — which are the ones worth taking deliberately.
The order to fix them
If you do one thing as a client: open the frames once and ask what you learned.
If you do one thing as a contractor: send a weekly note, unprompted.
If you do one thing jointly: agree how awkward time is billed, before the first hour.
What to check
Which of the twelve do you have?
Which is cheapest to fix?
Is the requirement reviewed, or permanent?
And has anything changed since you last looked at this arrangement?
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