On Sun, Sep 12, 2010 at 06:07:57PM -0500, Tamara Temple wrote: <snip> > > I've been in business and technology consulting for years and years, > and very successful at getting customer's desired outcomes. I don't > think their notions "strange" or "unusual" -- just that without > further elicitation, one cannot understand what they are truly > desiring, and to find out what they don't want as an outcome of their > up-front stated goals. > > >I don't pass judgement. I simply advise (based upon my limited > >understanding of things) and let the client make the calls. After > >all, he's the one paying the bills and he has answers for the > >remainder of your questions. > > It's not a question of passing judgement on someone's ideas. It's a > question of finding the best solution for the customer's actual needs > and desires. It's almost always the case that further exploration of > the customer's concerns behind their thoughts has proven to give them > a much more robust and useful solution and gets them what they are > really after. Most people aren't aware of the assumptions and > conclusions they have. Eliciting more information can lead to better > solutions for all. Blind faith in the customer's stated requirements > can lead one to a disastrous conclusion. It's been said all over the > net that customers don't really know what they want until they see it. > Further, that they don't know what they don't want until it happens to > them. I believe in delivering the most value to the customer for their > money, and that means understanding their needs as best as possible, > and that is done by exploring their business models, assumptions, and > needs. +1 I won't argue with Tedd about this, but perhaps this is why I don't do business consulting any more. When I would come across a customer like this, I would argue with them and probe until I found out what they where *really* trying to do. It was usually some confused idea they had about something, or something they were doing which wasn't entirely ethical they were trying to cover. But again, it's Tedd's client. He can do as he likes. Paul -- Paul M. Foster -- PHP General Mailing List (http://www.php.net/) To unsubscribe, visit: http://www.php.net/unsub.php
