Answering a question…

A few weeks ago, Designer commented on Software testing, art and productivity. The question got lost in amongst the comment spam, so I thought I’d give my answer a bit more prominently than usual. The question was:

…Many people who want to get a web-developed project don’t even understand the details of work. They just want to have a result and not to make a lot of efforts. How do you think – is there any solution? I think it is wide-spread problem.

If you’re talking about smaller web-based projects, I think you’re right. It can be really difficult to engage clients in the necessary up-front work to help reduce project uncertainty to a reasonable level. It’s a problem given that those with less money to spend have much more business risk in any project they undertake.

I think the second aspect of this is that customers (both internal and external) often come to us with a solution, not a problem. As we build the solution they asked for, the problem becomes clearer and dissatisfaction starts to creep in.

The focus of my work is increasingly on trying to help people build the right thing in the first place. I’m lucky. In my current role, my employer has the conviction that it’s important to make sure the project is heading in the right direction. This means making sure the project team has a shared understanding of the product vision, stakholders, those stakeholders’ goals, priorities and (in the case of a consumer product) the market and opportunities. They also think that it’s OK to bring development to a pause while we get our project bearings.

If you can’t choose the projects you undertake, then I don’t see any easy answers to these problems. And if you can’t convince your customer to be involved appropriately, and to place *some* value on just talking about the problem, it’s a hard road ahead for everyone. I guess the desire to do things ‘right’ is what drives many of us to start our own companies and projects. Without this option though, we can still focus on providing service – helping our customers better understand their problems and pointing out the benefits, costs and risks present in their solution(s). But choose your moments well, and don’t stop dreaming that things can be better than they are.