Andy Milk Interactive

In client services, it’s often beneficial just to get something DONE, and worry about the details later.  I’ve worked with many developers in the past who have hemmed and hawed over the details, documented everything from top to bottom, and delayed in getting something done.

While I do think you should approach any task, fix, upgrade, update, or feature request with a slow, steady, and calcuated pace, you shouldn’t run into analysis paralysis or what I’m just coining now as CompSci Incompetence.  No offense to programmers with multiple degrees from prestigious universities, or engineering consulting backgrounds, but often times the Scientific Method approach to programming can really piss of clients.  That’s mostly because of the time it takes to gather requirements, analyze the system, design a solution, code, test, deploy, review, etc.

Most of my clients need things done immediately when they send a request.  Aside from monetary transactional, senstive security-related, or iron clad brand requirements, I often times will take the most direct and fast path to completion.  If some small details fall through the cracks, they can be fixed soon after deployment, and the errors will likely only be seen by 1% of the viewing audience (or my client), while 99% saw SOMETHING rather than waited for it to be perfect.

Again, quality is very important and this shouldn’t be an excuse to be sloppy, hasty, or to ignore details.  But it ALWAYS makes clients happy to say, “DONE!” and the caveat that there a few things to tweak post-launch or post-deployment.  Sometimes you even get lucky and there’s nothing else to do post-launch.

Too many documents, too many emails, and too much analysis can be like molasses in a Nor’easter.  (it’s snowing in Boston as I write)

This is a very small subtle technique that has become second nature to me.  If you’re working on a web application, or just fixing some typos for a friend on a web site, ALWAYS include the full link in your email when you’re showing the changes or submitting for approval.

It’s a tiny time-saver that your clients, friends, and colleagues will appreciate in the long run.  I’ve even had a couple clients mention that they appreciate that small extra effort.

Instead of writing something like:

“OK, those changes should be all set.”

or

“If you look at ‘integrated-marketing.html’, you should see the changes.”

Take the few extra seconds to write:

“You should see the most recent changes here:  http://www.andymilk.com/integrated-marketing“

It allows the recipient to scan the email quickly, see there’s a link, and click on it to review without any extra effort.  If your client is like most people in the web development world, he or she is working on 20 things at once, so it’s not always assumed that your recipient will be one click away from the page you’re working on.

Just a litte client services tip that adds up.

It sounds like a legitimate application, doesn’t it?  It sure does look like one when it’s operating on your PC.  It flashes a Security Center that looks very Windows-ish and it pops open balloons in the bottom right, warning you of all sorts of potential calamities if you don’t buy the full version.  This malware, spyware, and/or whatever other -ware bad guy is a tricky one to remove.  It even puts an icon in the Control Panel.  I was able to quickly find a solution, after sifting through a few that could’ve been malware themselves.

The “Malwarebytes” tool they offer for download and the steps they illustrate removed Antivirus 2009 successfully from one PC I tested.

Here it is:  http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/malware-removal/uninstall-antivirus-2009

Your who?

I just had a client run into an issue with her hosting provider, who charged her more at the end of the year for a disk usage overage. There wasn’t any sort of automated disk usage monitor or reminder being sent to her, but there sure was a billing receipt sent! It was also time for renewal with this hosting provider and we determined she could save 50% off her yearly bill if we switched her to another hosting provider.

The moral of the story?

Make sure you periodically (yearly, quarterly, monthly) take the opportunity to see if there’s a better deal for the same service you already have out there. It’s one thing to stick with a service provider because of reliability, quality support, and responsiveness, but it’s another to just go on cruise control and leave things how they are because you don’t have the time to make a switch or you don’t know how to make a switch.

Find the time or find someone who can help you!