Focus and the Art of Collaboration
Image credit to 1stwebdesigner.com
There is no such thing as a perfect client. And, as much as you might like to think so, a perfect designer/consultant/idea/friend/parent doesn’t exist either. If after reading that statement you’re saying “whaddya’ mean? I’m damn near as perfect as it gets..”, you and your business/job are already probably already in trouble.
Thankfully I’m offering up some advice. It won’t be perfect, but with a sprinkle of links and references to folks who have played and succeeded in our space, along with some of my personal anecdotes, maybe you’ll see the error in some of your ways and brainstorm some ways you may go about fixing them.
I’ve talked about how the clear conveyance of instructions by and to a client and/or design firm (or any other business for that matter) is critical to a project’s success in the past. My views on the subject certainly haven’t changed much in the year or so that’s gone by, but neither has many of our new clients’ approaches to job specifications and direction when it comes to a design job.
Over on the Duct Tape Marketing Blog, John Jantsch offers up some excellent points in a post titled: How to Collaborate with a Designer. There is no such thing as too much information when it comes to collaborating with a designer/developer – unless you’re relaying fluff (make this “pop”, or “jazz” this up, etc…). Concrete examples work best – visual if possible.
One of the two hit-me-in-the-face with a big brick of YES remarks John made in the aforementioned post was that as business owner seeking a designers help, it is important that you realize that you are the master of your domain.
Master This
The passion for the product or service exists in you. The why of why you want to be on the web and in what capacity lies in your analysis and research. Not your designer’s or developer’s. These people (Heelatch included) are aides. Rung builders on your company’s long climb up the ladder of success. We’re not mind readers. And while some of us believe we know best, the better ones say so only when they’ve been well informed on all fronts about what you do, and then absorb, analyze, and research what has and hasn’t worked for you (or isn’t working) in the pas – and then propose solutions.
John’s other remark that made sense to me, and perhaps to the clueless client was that if you don’t know exactly what you want, at least try and articulate what you don’t want. We’re all guilty of being wishy-washy at times, but offer something up besides “”yeah, like Twitter but better”…please.
Without heaping too much blame on our soon to be unclear, pain-in-the-butt clients (just kidding – we love you and want to help you…I swear!! We wouldn’t go through what we do if we didn’t have an interest in helping you build successful companies), it must be noted that a lot of designers and developers can and should foot portions of the blame for communication that breaks down and leads to delays, arguments, unfinished or unsatisfactory work etc..
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