Advice needed: client problem?

["Hart, Geoff" <Geoff-H -at- MTL -dot- FERIC -dot- CA>]

Dia Blankenship has a client <<... for whom I just finished ghost-writing a
book chapter... I started out with a brain dump and an outline, based on his
proposal for the chapter, which he approved.  I've been sending him drafts
almost daily, with very little feedback from him (general comments like 'it
needs more meat', etc.)>>

I've learned to be paranoid about a lack of substantive feedback early in a
project; it's very rare that you get things perfectly right the first time,
and if your client can't provide strong corrections at that point, you need
to find out why and what you can do about it. The usual reason for a lack of
useful feedback is that the client is too busy to take the time to do a good
review or plan the overall course of the project.

<<Finally, ... he had me review the entire document, word for word, with the
documentation specialist for his company.  We revised it significantly and I
was under the impression that both the documentation specialist and the boss
were happy with the final version.  In fact, I got a voice mail from them
yesterday that the document was on it's way to the publisher.>>

Significant revision towards the end of the process is also a symptom that
there's been a problem; here, the problem seems to have been that your
client simply didn't take the time to review the materials, left it to the
doc specialist, and was then surprised at the results. But your last
sentence certainly suggests that the client was obviously satisfied with the
result.

<<I get another call from the boss stating that he's had his team review the
document and they have indicated it would be publicly and professional
embarrassing for him to publish this document.>>

Now what are the odds that your client and the documentation specialist were
the only two people in that entire company who had no clue? <g> I guess this
raises another lesson that many freelancers have reported here and
elsewhere: sometimes the person who asks you to do the work isn't the same
person who gets to approve the work and sign the cheques or can't be
bothered to inform you of the internal review process. It's always
important--if a delicate task--to learn enough about the corporate hierarchy
and internal review process to plan a job. Also, for future reference, find
out specifically what the problem was: did you document a product that had
been discontinued and nobody told the manager? <g>

<<he doesn't feel this was my fault and he knows that I worked hard on this
for him, but ultimately, he's just going to have his team write this thing
in a hurry and rush it to the publisher.>>

And they'll get something publicly and professionally embarrassing as a
result of the rush, unless they use your document as a starting point.
Silly, huh?

<<I believe in my 100% satisfaction guarantee, but that doesn't necessarily
mean I don't charge anything for work they aren't happy with, only that I
promise to make it right.  In this case, I'm not being given the chance
to.>>

It doesn't sound like there's anything for you to set right; the client you
contracted with was obviously satisfied enough to be willing to print what
you provided, and that means that you've fulfilled your guarantee. If you're
worried that this experience may have left a bad impression with the
company, it's worth following up with a letter expressing regret that you
hadn't understood the approval process and that next time, you'll be sure to
include the rest of the group in the review and approval process. In effect,
you're saying that you'd be interested in working with them again, but that
next time there won't be any surprises.

--Geoff Hart, FERIC, Pointe-Claire, Quebec
geoff-h -at- mtl -dot- feric -dot- ca
"User's advocate" online monthly at
www.raycomm.com/techwhirl/usersadvocate.html

"I vowed [that] if I complained about things more than three times, I had to
do something about it."--Jon Shear

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