Nomad

11 Aug 2011 by Robbie

What's broken in our industry? Part One

When I was working for an agency, there were a phrase and a word I hated. The phrase was "can you just", the word was "yes".

More often than not when working on a project, a client would phone an account manager and ask for a change to what was agreed upon. This is perfectly reasonable. After this point however the process needs to be managed carefully. The potential change needs to be evaluated, costed and confirmed with the client. Any implications need to be explored and delivery times shifted as required.

The reality however is that often the cost is absorbed by the agency, for fear of upsetting the client. The pressure is pushed down the chain to the developer, who finds themselves with more work, less time, and no extra reward. You could just as easily swap out "developer" for "designer" here. It happens to all staff.

This fear manifests itself in a number of ways. Sometimes it's squeezed developers, other times it's quoting too low to win the prestigious client and doing a job for less than you should. Occasionally it's farming out the work to cheaper, less adept sub-contractors (you generally get what you pay for) to maximise margins.

So what are we afraid of?

We've all got bills to pay, mortgages, credit cards etc and families to support. We'll quite happily suck up a lot of rubbish in order to take the stress of modern living off our shoulders. Security in your workplace is a wonderful thing, and the best way to guarantee that is to make sure you work as hard as possible - make yourself invaluable.

Once you start accepting this though, either at an individual level or on a wider company level, it sets expectations. It's human nature - we like patterns of behaviour. If you always work late, then pretty soon it's expected of you. Maybe not consciously - but when you go home early (i.e. after 7.5 hours rather than your usual 10) it will stand out as odd.

Now before I go much further I'm not saying you shouldn't work hard and that you shouldn't try to please your clients/customers. I believe very strongly in always doing your best in any given situation. Clients should be treated well and fairly. Changes are a fact of any project, you'll never avoid them and often they are completely legitimate and required.

However being a happy developer and having happy clients aren't mutually exclusive.

So what is broken?

In my opinion there are two things that are broken, one easier to fix than the other. The first is education, the second is Agencies themselves. I'll give my thoughts on the education aspect below, the Agencies side of things will be in part two of this blog post.

Education

This one is the easy one. The trick here is simple. Be consistent, be up front about your processes, be willing to stand firm but also be willing to compromise and above all be honest.

Educate your clients when they first start working with you as to what your process is and make sure you stick to it. Make sure they know where they stand and always are up to date on progress.

Once you've agreed on a specification with a client, expect the changes. It's not the client's fault. They are under as many external pressures as you, just make sure you react appropriately. Minor changes and your capability for dealing with them should be built into your quotes, the way you work should be flexible enough to accommodate this. Major changes should be evaluated and any changes in cost and timings communicated back to the client. Bend like a reed in the wind grasshopper! (but make sure your roots are deep).

Work with the client not just for them. If there is a major development issue with the changes requested, talk to them honestly about it. They'll realise that there are cost implications in what they are asking. 99% of clients when approached this way are completely reasonable.

Saying all this though there is always that 1% who will try and take advantage. Who will ask for a 3 page website and expect a social media web app. Or claim their expectations were completely different from what was delivered, regardless of all the supporting information to the contrary. They don't trust your judgement, they question your every move and motive. You are the expert, but they want to give all the advice.

The solution here is simple. Get rid of them. Fire them. Nicely of course, but if they are being that unprofessional there they will never be worth the hassle. Success is measured in more then just invoices. Your time and stress levels are incredibly important too.

Coming up

I've decided to split this post into two. Otherwise it would be a huge wall of text, also I feel there are a lot of talking points and I'd rather have any discussion focused on one thing at a time. As ever, leave comments below, email us, or get us on twitter.