[LRUG] Action

[Eleanor McHugh]

On 8 Apr 2009, at 10:55, Tim Cowlishaw wrote:
> On 8 Apr 2009, at 10:49, Chris Parsons wrote:
>> We need to work on building face to face relationships with  
>> clients, as that's the main thing that gets lost through offshoring.
>
> I totally agree with this, f2f time with clients also seems to  
> combat the stereotype of our profession as being populated by  
> antisocial 'back room' people which i think also contributes to a  
> lot of the problems we've discussed.

Indeed good chemistry is one of the key elements to success with any  
project which is why it's so important to build relationships with  
clients (whether third parties or internal management) that allow  
honest discussion of requirements and objectives.

> It's actually also really rewarding - recently i've worked on a job  
> where a couple of face to face meetings have managed to shift the  
> attitude towards web development at my client company from viewing  
> web development as a necessary, boring expense, towards one where  
> people there were actually getting really excited about the  
> possibilities of the technology we were developing, which is good  
> for their business, good for me, and, i like to think, good for the  
> wider perception of web technology and web development.

When I used to work in broadcast automation a substantial part of the  
work was building relationships with the users and management, partly  
because operators often perceived our systems as a way of reducing  
their numbers when they were first introduced. That company's success  
was built on demonstrating that we were really in the business of  
allowing an operator to do more work and that instead of leading to  
downsizing of operations staff we were actually enabling the business  
to increase it's overall workload whilst maintaining or even growing  
its staff.

Our competitors took a very different attitude which netted them  
larger market share (it seems the downsizing myth still dominates in  
many areas of business) but with technology that was substantially  
outmoded - MS-DOS vs. NT for example - and that also lacked the  
bespoke touch which our clients loved. For them the main relationship  
was about money and shifting boxes (at which alas they were very good)  
whereas for us it was the passion of delivering good technology which  
matched our clients' genuine needs.

There are many formalisms for doing that, most of which suck in one  
way or another, but nothing beats just talking to the client honestly  
and learning to share their passion for what they want to achieve. If  
they reciprocate by sharing some of our passion for development, well  
that's an added bonus!


Ellie

Eleanor McHugh
Games With Brains
http://slides.games-with-brains.net
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