Re: Client from Hell redux

["Stephen Arrants" <stephena -at- compbear -dot- com>]

"Andrew Plato" <intrepid_es -at- yahoo -dot- com> misunderstands as usual in  Re:
Client from Hell redux

| "Stephen Arrants" wrote in message ...
|
| > Why didn't you halt the process when the client did not perform their
| > deliverable to you? Surely, even though they approved the outlines, when
| > conversations, queries, or drafts didn't match what was wanted from the
| > clients'  end, someone had to say something--the client, a writer, et
al.,
| > right?
| >
| > When reviews are late from the client, that's the time to raise a flag
and
| > stop the process, investigate what's going on (or what isn't) and do a
| > reality check.
|
| Because that would be a crappy thing to do. Just because your client
doesn't
| instantaneously respond to your every need does not mean you halt the
project
| to conduct an investigation. That is a waste of time.


So let me get this straight...when a deliverable that's necessary isn't
forthcoming, go ahead on the wrong path?


| Ram the damn project through and quit waiting for approval. You know the
| cliche: "it is easier to ask for forgiveness then to be a sniveling little
| weasel begging for approval."

Where do you read this from my response?  Keeping folks informed, checking
the process and deliverables isn't begging, it isn't sniveling, it is good
practice.

| When a client is lazy with me, I start hammering them. I show up
unnannouced at
| a cubicle, send lots of emails, phone calls. Anything to keep the job
moving
| forward.  Stopping work, folding your arms, and having a little tantrum
because
| your client didn't respond to you is immature and wasteful.

As usual, Andrew, you're a poor marksman, hitting the broad side of the barn
when a smaller target will do...
Raising a flag to the one or two people who can affect the process has been
effective for me.  Congratulations, though, on your way of doing it with
multiple emails, poping up from under their desks, etc.  Do you also follow
them into the rest room if they run away?


| I've had projects that I totally re-engineered the docs after the first
draft
| because one nugget of info was changed. Since I wasn't steeped in a bunch
of
| processes and anus-restrictive methodologies, it was easy to just slam-bam
the
| whole thing into a new form.

Gee -- please tell me you don't work on docs for Boeing or Airbus...

| > If I was the client, I'd take responsibility for my part in ignoring the
| > process. But from what you're telling us, you're also responsible for
not
| > tracking more closely what was and wasn't going on.  When a client is
"vague
| > about what was wrong" and reviews come back that aren't detailed, you
need
| > to address problems at that point, not this late in the process.
|
| Oh feh.  90% of the working population are lazy, indecisive slobs.
Especially
| captive drones at huge, faceless companies. They don't want to follow a
process
| or make a decision, they just want to get the job done so they can go home
and
| have sex.  Even the so called "professional ones".

Not in my experience.  Most of the people I work with want the project to be
successful, want it to succeed.


| Most clients WANT somebody to boss them around a bit and make things
happen. If
| you're a limp noodle who has to have a group hug every time somebody
expresses
| displeasure then, sheesh, go get a job on the set of Ally McBeal and get
out of
| consulting.

Again, you're reading things into what I said that clearly aren't there.
But that's no surprise.  Sometimes what you post has a nugget of truth or
value in it, but not this time.  You seem to want to make consulting and
contracting an adversarial process, a "my way or the highway" deal. Fine, if
that works for you, but I don't know many companies that would put up with
that.