Semi-OT: Programming Question

[Jared]

 >> >Beware the client who always changes the
 >> requirements... :)
 >>
 >> Think there is a method of discovering such clients
 >> ahead of time?  My
 >> experience so far has been that people with vague
 >> ideas of what they
 >> want are the worse.  They don't know what they want,
 >> so you try to build
 >> what they describe

 >This is the totally wrong approach. It is the
 >deisgner's job to extract from a client a clear
 >picture of what it is they want. This means getting
 >input from the people who will use the product. It
 >maens asking questions, restating the answers, and
 >developing a data map and interface requirements.

Exactly. Become the expert, and then implement what the
customer wants (but cannot define clearly). Thereafter,
scope creep is not the customer's fault, it is part of
what you manage as the expert.

I know this all in principle; practice is a lot harder,
because, essentially, it requires a geek to have the
social skills to tell a customer what they want--with
enough precision to keep them happy... which I am only
just learning how to do.

-Jared.