Re:Ask HN: Coping when your client is an asshole?
by ilaksh on Tuesday May 28, 2019 @04:15AM
(#20028184)
Probably the client is just an asshole and nothing can fix that. However, I have some additional theories that may partially explain it.
My suspicion is that business schedules and contract structures may have something to do with this.
I'm guessing pressure is mounting because a lot of money has already been paid out before they received a final working product. It seems that people like to create large lump sum project fees and collect them immediately. This leads to crunch time and pressure to collect working software without extending the contract for additional money.
If possible I think it's best to have contract structures that are actually billed for the time of the developers and also have relatively short releases. So the idea would be that there is some working software with some features, then every few weeks you add a feature or two. This results in less pressure than if there are very few software deliveries.
But it sounds like there is some fundamental contempt the other party has for your group. It is risky but in order to understand and possibly combat that you could try changing the mode of communication. Perhaps no emails and only phone or Skype or face to face. Maybe you can have a discussion about where the contempt is coming from.
Also if you haven't delivered software for awhile you may not want to wait until the delivery date. Although that could make things worse also depending on the situation.
My suspicion is that business schedules and contract structures may have something to do with this.
I'm guessing pressure is mounting because a lot of money has already been paid out before they received a final working product. It seems that people like to create large lump sum project fees and collect them immediately. This leads to crunch time and pressure to collect working software without extending the contract for additional money.
If possible I think it's best to have contract structures that are actually billed for the time of the developers and also have relatively short releases. So the idea would be that there is some working software with some features, then every few weeks you add a feature or two. This results in less pressure than if there are very few software deliveries.
But it sounds like there is some fundamental contempt the other party has for your group. It is risky but in order to understand and possibly combat that you could try changing the mode of communication. Perhaps no emails and only phone or Skype or face to face. Maybe you can have a discussion about where the contempt is coming from.
Also if you haven't delivered software for awhile you may not want to wait until the delivery date. Although that could make things worse also depending on the situation.