"...our core expectation is that we will be served rather than just sold to. Here are some universal hopes that any of us has when engaging another... Naturally, they're unreasonable:

• Understand my purposes and serve them...Listen past my words.
• Leave your business plan at the door...
• Take the time to educate me...
• Details matter...
• But don't drown me in the details...
• Bring your expertise but leave your biases behind...
• No matter how important this project is, I have a real life...
• Give the project credit for its passion, significance and potential...
• Keep the loop alive because communication is your real product...
• Respect the goddam deadline...
• ...remind me, gently, that you can get my job done three ways:
  • Fast
  • Good
  • Cheap
  Pick Two

[Escapable Logic (much abbreviated)]

These are written from the client's viewpoint, but seem pretty much bidirectional: for people as for programs, client and server are fleeting rôles, not lifetime assignments.
Read the whole thing (including a story of economic romanticism).

5:36:44 PM   comments []