David Smith wrote: > Hi Foxers . I was hoping for some advice regarding exactly how honest is too > honest when it comes to working with clients. My situation: I did a website > and programmed some custom software for my leading client. Everything is > great, everyone is happy. Over the next few months I see a subtle uptick in > dissatisfaction as the tool they commissioned is being ignored by its > intended users, and an increasing amount of vague, non-specific gripes about > the site. Ignoring the fact the tools work perfectly and the site traffic > has more than doubled from their previous efforts, I find myself in a > somewhat frustrating position. What I'd really like to do is say " Hey > dummies, why not invest your time in looking for ways to leverage these > investments for you instead of grumbling in the corner over problems your > own policies created and you could easily change?". except maybe a little > nicer. Those who know me well understand I have a bad, bad habit of telling > the blunt version of the truth when I see it . Obviously I want to keep my > highest revenue generating client, and want to keep them happy. At the same > time my tolerance for dealing with idiocy is wearing thin, and quite > frankly, I really don't want to just rip them off by doing projects that > don't address their real problems just to make more money. Advice > gratefully welcomed and sincerely appreciated as I suspect over time I will > run into this again and again.
This is the most frustrating thing in my client relations. They mainly pay me to smooth the edges between software systems and departments, to make the process as they define it work smoothly. If I notice a process that is redundant or idiotic in some way, I've basically learned not to question it because after a dozen meetings there won't be any agreement among the stakeholders, people will be threatened, wheels get spinning, etc. So I end up billing for solving nothing. So, instead I learned to take the inputs as they define them, and provide the outputs as they define them, plus offering my take on their processes when solicited to do so (it does happen quite often). Sometimes it does feel like I'm getting paid to deliver more complex things than I like because of this, but I've learned to get over it. Current example: they keep all their product codes, information, pricing, etc. in a set of Excel Spreadsheets. They copy the needed information into other systems, such as accounting and for various other publications. Prices or other specs change and they must change this everywhere. They have a protocol in place that when someone changes something, an email must go out to everyone and certain people are in charge of changing the info in different places. Now, they want a website so customers can order online. I sit down with them and say "nows the time to bite the bullet and redesign how we save product information (in a database), so that the website can pull from that information as well instead of adding yet another place to copy/paste to." But no, they've spent too many hours building up the system they have now, and want me to just pull the needed information from the de-facto Excel Spreadsheets. They want me to do this no matter how much time it takes me. And, it is taking a long time because my program needs to read in the spreadsheets, and try to determine what information is what to present in the webpage. And each spreadsheet has different formatting, they keep adding new spreadsheets, and if that isn't enough they keep changing the bloody formatting! I feel really awful billing them for this undelivered work month after month, but then again I do keep them apprised on what the basic problem is, and they keep paying me to do it. So I keep working. Everyone seems to be happy with my performance, they trust me and my opinions, and appreciate my candor. But it is still so aggravating seeing them spin so many wheels to accomplish what a properly-designed relational database system could do for them in a fraction of the time and frustration. Oh wait. There are employees there who have jobs because of this very situation. No wonder they get their feathers ruffled so easily in those meetings! ;) Paul _______________________________________________ Post Messages to: [email protected] Subscription Maintenance: http://leafe.com/mailman/listinfo/profox OT-free version of this list: http://leafe.com/mailman/listinfo/profoxtech Searchable Archive: http://leafe.com/archives/search/profox This message: http://leafe.com/archives/byMID/profox/[email protected] ** All postings, unless explicitly stated otherwise, are the opinions of the author, and do not constitute legal or medical advice. This statement is added to the messages for those lawyers who are too stupid to see the obvious.
