A few of recent projects for which people were pushing for rapid delivery :
- Ready for three weeks; client hasn’t entered products in system yet.
- Ready for three months; client hasn’t filled in all sections of site, including the most vital.
- Ready for two weeks; client hasn’t started entering content yet.
- Ready to enter content for two and a half months; client hasn’t sent content.
It’s like the boy who cried wolf, at some point I just don’t believe anyone. Don’t trust people to know on their own when they need things, always try to get validation for deadlines, especially ones that would result in nights or weekends becoming work days. A lot of people tend to ask for quick deliveries without having taken the time to think through the next steps.
(Even having done that for most of the above projects, you see the result but at least except for one I didn’t end up working overtime for those deliveries.)
7 Comments
I agree completely, at times folks don’t plan a-z, but sometimes we need to get over our bad selves and remember who is the customer.
It is difficult to take back the judgment after you have applied it. Maybe there is a bigger picture for which one cannot see, maybe there are other pressures being received from their superiors or customers? Suffice to say it is hard to provide technology support to folks who are dealing with their own jobs and responsibilities etc, but we all get to stay employed supporting them, and for that I am thankful!
Hello fellow Montrealer from another local web designer.
Now that you mention it, yes, there often seems to be a certain urgency in getting a site up and running on behalf of a client, but it’s awkward getting a shell of a site built with nothing to put in it. I’ve had to deal with that often.
However, the cardinal rule of any business is to accomodate your client as best as possible. That mean sometimes having to gently remind them that their response in providing content in as timely a manner is in their best interest.
uh yeah, thats pretty typical of just about client out there. the rarity are the ones that actually have content done. these days when i decide to do a project, i will not design until they have their structure/content done or almost done, because otherwise the project will just sit there.
they also like to hold on to their money as well because hey ‘its not finished yet’.
i find that the people who normally want a rush job are the kind of people who treat everything in life as a crisis. it was hard for me at first to identify them, now i can see them from miles away. my personal record is a project that has been waiting to be done for 3 years, that was a ‘rush’ job that was to be completed in one november. ah, tragedy.
My golden rule is: clients need to know from the inception of an interactive project that the content is half of the Web site. Either that content is scheduled alongside all the discovery, UX, design, and development and managed by the designer and a content creator, or the client has to meet milestones set across the project schedule that are contingent — meaning no content, no progress. If they know in the beginning what they’re in for, a lot of these schedule freakouts evaporate and, if handled with great client service, keep everyone satisfied.
Most of my clients are pretty responsible. I did just have two projects ressurected after four months of complete inactivity, which is always fun. The best was when one particular company did not get back to me for two years (yes, 24 months). Sometimes the new website is just not that high of a priority.
Seems to be a pretty common problem then. Weird that I hadn’t faced it that much before and got a burst like that. Thanks for piping in guys.
(sorry for the delay in answering, was off for a week)
Pretty common? Try ubiquitous!! But it is refreshing to reminded that we’re not alone.
I always find clients are eager to see the work you need to do for them, but are far less eager to complete (or even start) their own deliverables.
My personal best: 3 projects that festered away for 2 years. My hat’s off to kenrick. I can’t top that!!