Psychology of customers and the Hardware/Software industry.
Posted by Plaidman on May 3rd, 2008
The project I’m currently working on has failed to hold my interest nearly as much as the last one. I would spend a half hour typing out some code, then I’d find myself on Kotaku or something browsing through comments. I didn’t have that problem with Smart Tan.
I’ve been trying to figure out why this is happening, going through a few explanations like ‘it’s a dumb idea for a site’, or ‘the customer is too fickle, doesn’t know what he wants’. On my way home from another Saturday at work catching up from another week of lack of progress, I think I’ve pinpointed the problem: my own perceived inadequacy as a programmer.
When something is broken in the hardware and software industry, be it a server or a website, it’s very easy to please the customer. They see the broken thing before and they see the fixed thing after and there is a definite metric of improvement. I like these customers and the prospect of working on these types of projects makes me happy because I know the customer will be happy in the end. Smart Tan was one of these ‘Fixer-Upper’ projects, and I didn’t mind putting in 10 hours/day on it.
When dealing with new hardware or software, here’s where the industries diverge. If someone wants a new computer, they call us, we send the specs to Dell or whatever, then Dell makes the computer for us. It’s really a simple process; more simple, really, than fixing a broken computer.
Creating a brand new website, on the other hand, is much more stressful than fixing a broken one. The customer doesn’t have a ‘broken’ site to look at for a metric for what’s ‘better’. All they have is other sites - that have been in development for years - to use for ideas for their new site. When I receive phone calls from a new-site customer, 75% of their requests are met with, “No, we can’t do that in our time frame/budget.” It’s especially frustrating when the sales person originally tells them that something is doable, but I’m not completely aware of the scope when I give my estimate. The overall negativity in new-site projects really drains me after a while. Repeatedly telling a customer ‘no’ makes me perceive myself as an inadequate programmer subconsciously, and it takes away from the focus I try to put in every day.
Hopefully, now that I’ve found why I feel so crappy after working on these projects, I’ll be able to psych myself into coping with telling a customer ‘no’. Some requests are just too difficult to complete, and that doesn’t make me a bad programmer.
May 5th, 2008 at 9:10 am
It’s good that you’re able to locate a problem like that, and hopefully find a way to easily work through it. If for some reason you continue to find yourself in frustrating situations… you could always become a professional “Rock, Paper, Scissors” player like Mike.
Also we should hang out soon.
Also, also “Hazzah” to remembering that First of May song in a timely manner.
May 14th, 2008 at 11:08 am
My main issue is there’s a huge gap in what people want and what they are willing to pay for. Most customers have little to no idea how much work actually goes into features that they think are “quick and easy”. Oh, you only have $800 you can spend? Yeah… not gonna work.
May 16th, 2008 at 12:22 pm
I have faced issues like that. I end up blaming it on the rule of three. All customers want 3 things in a project.
1.) They want it cheap.
2.) They want great quality.
3.) They want it really fast.
They get to pick one and if they are really lucky they get 2 of those but never all 3 unless you like working all the time for free. Just get use to the idea that your customers are idiots and will have unrealistic expectations. Not our fault if they get the wrong idea or just stupid and happen to be paying us.
May 16th, 2008 at 8:14 pm
Now that your head is back in the game, and you’ve got a few sick days under your belt… GO GET ‘EM TIGER!