On Thu, Feb 21, 2008 at 1:05 PM, Whil Hentzen <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> From the article: > > (Whatever you do, at least promise me this: Don't just implement feature > requests from "user representatives" or "business analysts." The most > common way to get usability wrong is to listen to what users say rather > than actually watching what they do. Two words: hourly billing :) I has a project with a bull-headed EVP. We do it the way he says. Then we show them what's wrong with the idea. Then we show them a better implementation. Then they pay us to do it our way. It's a load of aggravation, but seems to be the only technique that works with this client. The paychecks make the aggravation easier to take, but they are paying double for us to implement poor functionality and then fix it. > How many of you have had a customer (for independents, not in-house > developers) who were happy to pay for you to watch their people work for > a couple of days? Me: Raises hand. > In 25 years of app dev, I've _never_ had a customer like this. You need to find a better class of customer. Or, better yet, leave them to me :) Seriously, once. Me and an associate spent (alternate) 5 days following the clerical staff through a week of their work. Wednesday's work was different than Friday's. Monday's was unique. The application was killer, and last I heard doubled their productivity and is still in use nine years after it was rolled out. Moral: you get what you pay for. > I love Jakob. I just wish there was someone like him who talked in > practical terms for those of us with < multi-million dev budgets.... This was a five-digit project, maybe just over six with an accounting package and travel expenses thrown in. I think the key determinants that let us do it "the right way" were a heavy sales pitch that we we experts and the complete technical cluelessness of the client. They were willing to let us do what needed to be done. We explained why and what and they paid for it. And paid off the cost in no time. It was a pretty cool project. -- Ted Roche Ted Roche & Associates, LLC http://www.tedroche.com _______________________________________________ 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.
