the porous city

Spectacular essay on working with clients to develop custom software.
If there's one thing every junior consultant needs to have injected into their head with a heavy duty 2500 RPM DeWalt Drill, it's this: Customers Don't Know What They Want. Stop Expecting Customers to Know What They Want. It's just never going to happen. Get over it.

Instead, assume that you're going to have to build something anyway, and the customer is going to have to like it, but they're going to be a little bit surprised. YOU have to do the research. YOU have to figure out a design that solves the problem that the customer has in a pleasing way.
(scroll all the way down and click the 'Discuss' link)


last modified: 18:41:31 24-Mar-2002
in categories:People/Workingwith, Design/Process

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