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Is it wrong...

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  • G Gary Wheeler

    Your development methodology has no effect whatsoever when your client is a lying sack of dung. They can be 'engaged', and a 'stakeholder', and 'part of the process', but if they decide to stiff you, they're going to do it anyway. The only way I've found to deal with this problem is to bill them often as the work proceeds. If they stop paying, I stop working, and I'm never more than one billing cycle in the hole.

    Software Zen: delete this;

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    hayrob
    wrote on last edited by
    #31

    That will work, but doesn't sound a lot of fun working for a client who is a lying sack of dung. Why do you do it?

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    • S S Houghtelin

      Mark Nischalke wrote:

      rip the arms off your client and beat them with the bloody appendages

      Only after they've paid you, oh, and given recommendations, then it's OK. (They need their arms to write the check, and fingers to type the recommendation... that sort of stuff.) :-D

      It was broke, so I fixed it.

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      Steve Mayfield
      wrote on last edited by
      #32

      On the other hand ( :laugh: ), I hear that arms and legs are going for lots of $$$ on the body parts black market :~

      Steve _________________ I C(++) therefore I am

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      • H hayrob

        OK - but I don't fancy working in an environment where respect, never mind trust, is not present. But then I'm lucky. I have remarked in this thread that I have reviewed disputes of this kind before, and in all three cases, it was a complete breakdown in understanding on both sides - not lying by one side. This may well be different.

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        D Offline
        Dave Kreskowiak
        wrote on last edited by
        #33

        There was no breakdown in my case. It was a VP handing down "I've changed my mind" documents, signed of course, saying "you WILL do this". Oh, and the production deployment date never changed. The last (and biggest) design overhaul came 2 days before going to production. Yeah, there's a lot of time to recode and test on a dozen different platforms...

        A guide to posting questions on CodeProject[^]
        Dave Kreskowiak

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        • D Dave Kreskowiak

          There was no breakdown in my case. It was a VP handing down "I've changed my mind" documents, signed of course, saying "you WILL do this". Oh, and the production deployment date never changed. The last (and biggest) design overhaul came 2 days before going to production. Yeah, there's a lot of time to recode and test on a dozen different platforms...

          A guide to posting questions on CodeProject[^]
          Dave Kreskowiak

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          H Offline
          hayrob
          wrote on last edited by
          #34

          You have my sympathy - I take it there was no large bonus floating around!?

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          • H hayrob

            That will work, but doesn't sound a lot of fun working for a client who is a lying sack of dung. Why do you do it?

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            G Offline
            Gary Wheeler
            wrote on last edited by
            #35

            All clients have the potential for being lying sacks of dung. They usually don't exercise it immediately, which is why you can end up in that situation. I've only had to use my solution to the problem once. In that case, the client was a university professor who didn't want to deal with his institution's bureaucracy to ensure I got paid on a timely basis. I had to 'down tools' in order to get his attention.

            Software Zen: delete this;

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            • H hayrob

              Read it, and I agree with it. OP seems to believe that agreeing requirments solves the problem - it doesn't.

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              N Offline
              Not Active
              wrote on last edited by
              #36

              What am I thinking now? Oh, that's right you can't read my mind and don't know what I believe.


              Failure is not an option; it's the default selection.

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              • H hayrob

                Agreed - don't dispute the OP's view, but the client may have an equally valid view of the world. I was called in to look into a similar situation, and I found that neither "side" was lying. Waterfall requires "sides" and while it works well lots of times, it doesn't guarantee that the parties won't finish up accusing teh other of lying.

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                N Offline
                Not Active
                wrote on last edited by
                #37

                You seem to be saying that Agile methodologies don't expect to have requirements and agreements. Nothing could be further from reality. Agile may not have the same strict process as Waterfall but it still has a process and documentation requirements. If you are trying to complete a project with no documentation then you are truly a fool. I deny starting this thread. What methodology would make this statement less false?


                Failure is not an option; it's the default selection.

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                • M Marc A Brown

                  So the client denies that the signature is his? Or are you talking about a virtual signature?

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                  N Offline
                  Not Active
                  wrote on last edited by
                  #38

                  Electronic signatures audited by a high grade document repository system and multiple meeting notes and in the presence of multiple people.


                  Failure is not an option; it's the default selection.

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                  • N Not Active

                    You seem to be saying that Agile methodologies don't expect to have requirements and agreements. Nothing could be further from reality. Agile may not have the same strict process as Waterfall but it still has a process and documentation requirements. If you are trying to complete a project with no documentation then you are truly a fool. I deny starting this thread. What methodology would make this statement less false?


                    Failure is not an option; it's the default selection.

                    H Offline
                    H Offline
                    hayrob
                    wrote on last edited by
                    #39

                    Possibly I am truly a fool. But there is a lot of documentation I what I do; both the customer and I generate it. We have debates, but I'm lucky with my customer, or am I just lucky!

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                    • N Not Active

                      What am I thinking now? Oh, that's right you can't read my mind and don't know what I believe.


                      Failure is not an option; it's the default selection.

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                      H Offline
                      hayrob
                      wrote on last edited by
                      #40

                      what makes you think I didn't know what you were thinking?

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                      • A Alberto Bar Noy

                        He will say no signy->no redesigny-> no money although if this is the case you better loose the money than be a slave for free.

                        Alberto Bar-Noy --------------- “The city’s central computer told you? R2D2, you know better than to trust a strange computer!” (C3PO)

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                        G Offline
                        gavindon
                        wrote on last edited by
                        #41

                        Alberto Bar-Noy wrote:

                        better loose the money than be a slave for free.

                        my thoughts exactly. Assuming you can handle the loss of funds of course.. then again, sounds like there would be no funds anyway so no loss.... :-D

                        Common sense is not a gift it's a curse. Those of us who have it have to deal with those that don't.... Be careful which toes you step on today, they might be connected to the foot that kicks your butt tomorrow. You can't scare me, I have children.

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                        • H hayrob

                          You have my sympathy - I take it there was no large bonus floating around!?

                          D Offline
                          D Offline
                          Dave Kreskowiak
                          wrote on last edited by
                          #42

                          What is this "bonus" thing you speak of??

                          A guide to posting questions on CodeProject[^]
                          Dave Kreskowiak

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                          • N Not Active

                            ...to want to rip the arms off your client and beat them with the bloody appendages? I'd say beat them senseless, but they already are. Four months of requirements, design, coding, testing and multiple review sessions and now, once in production, the client wants a major redesign and flatly refuses to acknowledge sign-off on requirements and design, even denies any meetings or conversations that have taken place regarding the functionality. I'm seriously considering wearing a video camera and microphone any time I'm with the client.


                            Failure is not an option; it's the default selection.

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                            J Offline
                            jsc42
                            wrote on last edited by
                            #43

                            I would recommend switching off the video camera before ripping the arms off the client so that there is no evidence of the event that will be admissible in court.

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                            • R Rage

                              What is not written does not exist. Have you protocolled the meetingsd, and have him signed the specifications ?

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                              J Offline
                              jsc42
                              wrote on last edited by
                              #44

                              Or, to quote Samuel Goldwyn (The G in MGM [the movie studios]): A verbal contract isn't worth the paper it's written on.

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