This article is amateur hour. And by that I mean "amateur" in the sense of "lacks the business experience to see past their own narrow experiences".
I work for a consultancy that works for some of the biggest investment funds in the world. We do some flat rate and we do some hourly. Sometimes hourly is exactly what the customer wants and is aligned with our interests. Sometimes it's not. I have also freelanced successfully with the same experience, and as a customer there are things I absolutely want hourly.
For example, discovery should always be hourly, or you screw it up by making discovery that leads to a no-go conclusion unlikely, even if no-go is the Right Thing. One of the best things I ever learned for consulting was how to do this - clients who have paid you a reasonable fee to discover that they are not ready to go ahead will be talking about your honestly and credibility to anyone who will listen. Managing when things should be hourly or not is a huge part of what builds credibility. Blanket statements about how one should never be trying to do hourly work reveal nothing but business ignorance.
I work for a consultancy that works for some of the biggest investment funds in the world. We do some flat rate and we do some hourly. Sometimes hourly is exactly what the customer wants and is aligned with our interests. Sometimes it's not. I have also freelanced successfully with the same experience, and as a customer there are things I absolutely want hourly.
For example, discovery should always be hourly, or you screw it up by making discovery that leads to a no-go conclusion unlikely, even if no-go is the Right Thing. One of the best things I ever learned for consulting was how to do this - clients who have paid you a reasonable fee to discover that they are not ready to go ahead will be talking about your honestly and credibility to anyone who will listen. Managing when things should be hourly or not is a huge part of what builds credibility. Blanket statements about how one should never be trying to do hourly work reveal nothing but business ignorance.