tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-460442973907396413.post-15836817464157302292008-04-21T07:59:00.004-04:002008-04-21T08:29:45.792-04:00Among the discussions on the web development business I've been part of, one very common one revolves around a statement like this: "My client wants such-and-such for his web site. I know it's a bad idea, but he's the client, so I have no choice."<br /><br />In these discussions, some web designers/developers* insist on the old adage "The customer is always right" and believe that carrying out whatever orders the client might give is the highest form of good customer service. They consider themselves to be tools used by clients to create the client's own vision.<br /><br />Others, myself included, think that an important part of our job is giving good advice about what constitutes an effective, good quality web site.<br /><br />I don't simply comply with every request. I do consider that to be the default setting; the person writing the checks is, at least in one sense, the boss. But presumably I have been hired in order to take advantage of my knowledge of good web design as well as my simple ability to produce a web site. Ultimately, I consider my job to be to meet the client's actual goals, which typically are to have a web site which works well in the large sense; the site does what it's supposed to do: attracts business, provides information, contributes to the company's good reputation, etc.<br /><br />So if the client has an idea for his web site which he thinks is really cool, but which I know won't work well for a lot of users, or will be disliked by most of them, I don't just shrug and go about implementing it. Instead, I initiate a conversation with my client in which I explain why I feel that their idea is not going to contribute to the success of their web site. I make sure he understands the potential problems and down-sides to his idea. We discuss it. And then, I let him make the decision.<br /><br />Often, the client will take my advice, and get a better web site for himself. Sometimes he'll continue to insist on his idea. When it's the latter, it can be frustrating for me. Yes, I'm getting paid, but it's still a bummer to have to produce a web site which is less than good quality when I have the ability to do otherwise. It's just much more satisfying to produce a good site than a mediocre one. In some instances, I've even felt it necessary to remove my credit from the web site over issues like this.<br /><br />It's not always easy to negotiate these issues, but I stand firm in my belief that a good web developer is not just a box of crayons for the client, but a box of crayons with years of knowledge and experience.<br /><br />And by the way, "The customer is always right" is, of course, not a universal truth. It doesn't take much experience or imagination to come up with a situation in which a customer is most definitely not right. (How about "I want everything in your store for free"?) The expression has a purpose, but it isn't meant to be taken literally, but rather understood as, "A good business does everything possible to please the customer." Not as catchy, but a lot truer and more useful.<br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">* Re. "Web designer" and "web developer": I continue to use these terms interchangeably to refer to a person whose job it is to plan, design, code, and produce web sites.</span>Patty Ayersnoreply@blogger.com