Mission

Our mission combines our professional goals and whom we believe ultimately deserves the credit for everything good we do:

We bring exceptional value to our clients via project, personal, and technical leadership in the development of robust, flexible software assets as we give glory to Jesus Christ our Lord.

Values

Almost everyone at RoleModel is a follower of Jesus Christ. We're not shy about that. But when a client hires us, we get paid to deliver superior software, not to preach. That is exactly what we'll do. Our faith will not interfere with the work we do. We think it's important, though, for our potential clients to know how our faith affects our work. We believe it augments our ability to deliver. Whether or not our clients share our faith, they will see us work with integrity and no one has ever fired us because of unethical behavior.

Our founder takes the cultivation of his Christian character very seriously. The Bible tells us to be diligent in our work, as if we were doing it for God directly (Colossians 3:23-24). He believes the Bible is clear about how we are supposed to deal with people, including our customers. We are commanded to be honest with everyone, which includes ourselves and our customers (Matthew 5:37). Part of this is admitting when we are wrong and doing whatever is necessary to correct the mistake. Honesty and humility are the bedrock of what we do (Micah 6:8). In fact, this is one of the things that attracts our people to agile development methods and Extreme Programming. It is an honest way to develop software.

People who work for us don't have to share this faith, but they do have to follow one explicit rule: "We don't lie. We don't lie to each other or to our clients. If you do, it is grounds for immediate dismissal."

Think about what this means for a software development effort. When we have too much work to do in too little time, we will be honest. When we could be doing more work, we will be honest. If we make a mistake, we'll admit it and do what's necessary to correct it. We try not to overpromise or underdeliver (although we try to be very conservative in what we promise, and strive to overdeliver). We won't lowball you on a quote, and then start explaining why we need more money because of the change requests that came after we started the project. We know customers will change some of their requests based on the feedback in our process and the fact that the world is not a static place and our client can't anticipate or communicate everything perfectly when they make their initial request, and we take that into consideration in our quotes.

If we think our clients are asking for too much with their limited budget, we'll tell them. If we think they would be wiser to start smaller with a less ambitious budget, we'll tell them. Our goal is to never take a check from anyone who doesn't think we provided good value for that money, and we won't engage with someone whom we think will not be happy in the end.

Don't get the wrong impression. We're not perfect, nor do we think we are. But if you're interested in working with people with the utmost integrity, that's what you're getting with RoleModel.

Vision

After surviving our first year of business in 1997, In 1998 our seven year vision became:

We were basically successful in that, and now our current seven year vision is:

Our vision statement is very rich in meaning for us, but may be difficult to understand for those who find it without getting to know us better. We'll be happy to discuss it with anyone who wants to start a dialogue. Just contact us

Our Name

We get lots of questions about our name and logo. They reflect:

• What we do - Using objects to model the appropriate roles necessary to meet business needs.
• The way we do it - Treating our clients, employees, and business partners with the utmost respect, using the best practices.
• Why we do it - To recognize individuals as creations of the ultimate RoleModel, Jesus Christ, our Lord, and to give Him the glory for any success we might have.

That last statement may not be popular with everyone. In 1997, a well meaning friend who saw that statement said, "I appreciate and admire your faith, but you really should consider taking it off of your web site. Your family has to eat." We told him then, "we are not going to deny the Lord whom we serve and who is the real provider... and, by the way, we're eating just fine." Many years later, our answer is still the same and many more families have been associated with RoleModel and they have all eaten just fine, too (though not all of them share the same faith). God is good, all the time.