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Managing Clients& Managing Up
…a cheezy powerpoint template
The Client-Consultant Relationship
branding yourself niche skills/markets
setting expectations "most projects fail for non-tech reasons" design takes time (and costs money!) there will be bugs it will take longer than they think
Chemistry can you work together? are you interested in their business purpose? politics vs the project (unstated goals)
The Client-Consultant Relationship
pricing new systems vs repair/enhance fixed-price vs hourly billing for specs/consultation time? your costs (software/resources/hosting) underpricing hurts everyone billing for changes support contracts software-as-a-service
division of responsibilities research testing
The Client-Consultant Relationship
prototypes/mockups/wireframes a Bunch of Free Tools ...and resources (templates, images, etc) Balsamiq
free demo Exporting your Mockups to Code
for iPad: SketchyPad and iMockups Getting Feedback on your mockups
The Client-Consultant Relationship
log everything ("get it in writing")
quotes & invoicing Office Templates FreshBooks (free for <=3 clients)
Contracts payment chedule
PIA, net-N, etc design specs as part of contract can subcontract? use extant code? (yes, always) ownership of product? of components? changes vs defects? product acceptance; installation
Managing Up
consulting skills also apply to conventional jobs
contracts = project negotiation set expectations you can, and should say "no" sometimes
branding = self-promotion + self-direction what have you done? show it off! what to you want to do? show that you can and will. be curious (about tech, business processes, etc) seek new responsibilities that you will enjoy
Managing Up
think about long-term maintenance of your projects your time-overhead "job security" vs boredom/lock-in
understand your place in the business, and where you want to be higher is not necessarily better if you find you are better at managing than coding, ask for
a change of role if you find you are a better coder than others, ask for a
promotion (eventually)
they should pay for training, AND allocate time for it
Managing Up
when you identify a problem, identify a solution bring them both to the boss
your job is to produce product AND to support your boss be trustworthy, up-front, honest let them know when they are making a misstep (technical or
political) talk to them before anyone else (unless their style is otherwise)
your boss' job is to protect and support you ideally, they are the direct contact for the client you may have direct technical contacts in the client's company your boss or an analyst should handle spec changes / client
management