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Client-Related Challenges
7:04While clients provide the direction for projects, they can also damage our productivity. Paul provides some tips for dealing with clients, meetings, and communication.
So we've stumped on our distractions.
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But the next problem—the one area which is very hard to ignore is the client.
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We might be able to turn off our email some of the time,
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but that doesn't mean we completely remove clients from the equation.
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And clients do damage our productivity
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whether we like to think it or not.
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Or whether they like to think it is more to the question.
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Meetings, calls, emails all eat into our actual
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productive time of getting work done.
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Then there's scope creep,
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which screws with our scheduling and our profitability.
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We have this project all planned out wonderfully,
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but then suddenly the client wants something else that we hadn't planned.
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It's that whole unpredictable nature about clients
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where you don't really know how long
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it's going to take them to sign off a design
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or whether they're going to quibble over a particular aspect.
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Now all of those things need addressing,
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and we need techniques for dealing with working with clients.
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Now we've already addressed the issues of telephone calls and emails
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and suggested there are some things you can do there,
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but there are other things too.
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Take for example meetings.
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Always schedule your meeting with a client even if they're nearby.
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Even if it's a client that you could easily pop in to see,
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don't just have ad hoc meetings.
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Make sure they're scheduled into your calendar
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so that they happen when you want them to happen,
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and they don't just suddenly interrupt you in the middle of something else.
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Another useful technique is to make use of video conferencing.
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This limits the amount of travel time to see clients.
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Now I said earlier that meeting face to face with clients is really important,
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and I stand by that.
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But not every conversation with a client needs to happen face to face,
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and a lot of the time you can use video conferencing to do that.
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Always, always set a time limit on a meeting with a client.
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Don't allow it be an open-ended meeting,
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and also don't feel that you always need to go with a
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default that a calendar is set up for.
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Most calendar apps will automatically set a meeting as being an hour long.
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And for a lot of meetings, that's too long.
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So what we tend to do when we have meetings with a client
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is we make it very clear that we need to stop by this time
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because we have other commitments that follow on from there.
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So arrange your meetings with that end time in mind.
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But also try and group the meetings together
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so that you're not constantly begin interrupted through the day.
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Have an afternoon or a day a week which is dedicated to meetings
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so that you're not constantly interrupting your time spent building the website.
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Always have an agenda going in for a meeting as well.
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So many meetings turn into these open-ended discussions
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that don't really go anywhere and drag on endlessly.
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Have an agenda and stick to it.
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And say up front that you have to be done by a certain time.
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There's also scope creep to consider as well.
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First thing to do for dealing with scope creep
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and stopping a client getting carried away
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is to have a written specification.
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Outline exactly what it is you're supposed to be delivering,
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and insure that everyone is signed up with that specification.
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Then if something comes along that isn't in the specification,
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it's clear.
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And there's none of this, well, I thought it was going to be included.
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That happens so much and can throw out your projects.
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Be realistic and honest with your clients
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about ideas that they come up with.
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If an idea is easy to implement,
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feel free to implement it.
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But a lot of the time you want to push ideas back into a second phase.
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I recommend keeping an ideas list
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between yourself and the client
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that when they come up with new ideas,
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put it down on the ideas list.
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That's where these new things go.
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They don't get rolled into the project
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so making it longer and longer.
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Review the ideas list at the end of each project,
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and that can turn into the repeat business we talked about earlier.
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Finally there's unpredictability,
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those aspects of client behavior that are hard to predict
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and can really throw out a project.
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Communication is a key aspect of that.
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If you're communicating with them often,
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then these things are less likely to arise.
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Also avoid surprises.
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Show your client stuff often.
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A classic example of where this can go wrong is with design.
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Designers like to work in isolation.
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They like to go away and produce their beautiful designs
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and then present them to the client in this ta-da moment.
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The problem with that approach is the client is surprised
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with a completed design that may or may not be in line with their expectations.
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If you had shown them sketches and mood boards
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and wireframes and all of these other things along the way,
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then you would have identified problems earlier on
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rather than having this problem hit you after you've spent
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a lot of work and a lot of time working on a design.
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So show the client often what you're doing.
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Adding contingency as well to projects.
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Make sure that there is ample time
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for these unpredictable things that clients tend to do from time to time.
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And when they do say something that surprises you,
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that sets the project off in a different direction, that is unpredictable,
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don't go in and just say, no, I'm not going to do that
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because that doesn't help with the client relationship.
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Instead explain the consequences.
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Point out to them that if did this, it would have a knock on effect on the project.
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Most importantly, make sure that the client understands
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that they might only be adding a day’s work onto the project
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with something that they suggest,
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but that doesn't necessarily equate to just a days delay
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in the overall time of the project.
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The reality is you have other commitments with other clients.
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And this—your clients wouldn't like it
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if their project was pushed because of another client.
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So if you set a certain time to work with a certain client,
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you need to stick to that.
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So if the previous client overruns,
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then it's going to be a while before you can come back to that project.
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So there you go.
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Working with clients is never easy
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and does have an effect on your productivity.
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You're not going to get to sit endlessly coding without having to deal with clients.
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But working with clients is something that's manageable.
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If you set meetings that happen at a particular time,
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if you have a way of dealing with scope creep,
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and if you have methods of dealing with the clients unpredictability,
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then you will get a lot done,
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and the client doesn't need to dominate your day.
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