For one of the projects which I am the lead tech developer, we built a content editor system for a client. The system was structured in such a way that it is tightly integrated with the design that was designed by our in house designer. So once we shown the system to the client, he was happy about it, and I thought that he would be excited to start using it to put in his content.

But it didn’t go as I thought I would be. I didn’t know where or when the plot was lost. The client kept coming back to us about putting content and tweaking the design. I thought to myself why on earth we spent weeks building him a content editor system in the first place. And also because the system was purposedly built to be tightly integrated with the design, so when the design is changing, we also need to rebuild the back end system.

I know this is really not my problem, after all I am just a programmer. But I do feel frustated because this will add more work to my already heavy workload and I fear that we are losing money unnecessarily by extending the work.

I know the management must have good reasons to keep on meeting this client’s demands for putting content and design changes, it would be good if I know the reasons so I won’t feel so upset. Anyhow if there are lessons for me to learn from this, that would be:
1. Educate and involve client early. Get client involved in the early iteration of the project (beta or alpha testing?).
2. When a project specification and design have been signed off and significant work has been done, abide by them. Significant changes are allowed at client’s cost. (Getting an agreement on what thing and when to be delivered seem to be a major issue for some of our projects lately).
3. Make sure your developers happy 🙂