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Do lawyers let their clients demand that they be tried and found not
guilty in 4 weeks?
Do architects let their clients tell them to produce a full set of
custom home plans in 4 weeks?
Provide your prospect an estimate that allows your staff to do the job
in a professional manner without overtime and stick to it. If that is
unsatisfactory, let them go else where. They aren't worth the headaches
because this sounds like another Client From Hell.
My curmudgeonly two cents.
John Gilger
Senior Technical Writer
Acres Gaming, Inc.
I am talking to a potential client. In 4 weeks, they want a complete
user
manual, including examples and scenarios and a CBT that "supports the
user
guide" (must reflect the complete user guide). The product is a web
based
supply chain product. There is no existing documentation, although an
online
help is being scoped now and a beta help should be ready by the time we
start our part. (I don't know who is doing the help so I don't know what
may
actually be in it - if it is "In the Name field, type a name" help, it
is of
no value to us for our part.) The client says the product is at least 50
screens - while that doesn't tell me the possible tasks, it gives me a
sense
of at least the areas of work possible.
My crew says that with a week to plan - outlines, storyboards, prototype
designs, approval from client - and 3 days to internal QA, we cannot do
this
project. I am leaning to agree with them. It leaves us 2.5 weeks of
actual
development time (and reviews and edits) and adding more people to the
project will not help, I think, even blowing the week out to 60 hours a
week - which I hate doing to my writers ever. It make us crazier (and
crankier) than normal.
I am looking for a reality check. The client seems immovable about the 4
weeks. I keep saying starting now and they keep saying in mid Feb.
Before I
call and explain why this seems like a train-wreck in the making and we
try
to limit our wrecks when possible, can anyone think of anything we are
not
thinking of?
sharon
Sharon Burton-Hardin
Anthrobytes Consulting
909-369-8590
www.anthrobytes.com
Vice-president, Programs of the Inland Empire chapter of the STC
www.iestc.org
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