[AccessD] On DB Bloat, Bad DB Design, and various

I agree with Scott.  Never be afraid to fire a troublesome client. 
In my experience, the void always fills with higher-quality business.

-Christopher-

---- Original Message ----
From: marcus at tsstech.com
To: accessd at databaseadvisors.com, 
Subject: RE: [AccessD] On DB Bloat, Bad DB Design, and various
Date: Tue, 25 May 2004 09:43:29 -0400

>Stephen,
>
>Right or wrong, your contract with the client determines who pays. 
>Are you working by the hour or by the project?
>
>If the client won't pay for your time when they agree to pay by the 
>hour, that would be them breaking the contract. These are the type 
>of clients you should get rid of if possible. You must weigh the 
>benefits of keeping the contract vs. free work. Such is the nature 
>of contract work.
>
>Scott Marcus
>TSS Technologies, Inc.
>marcus at tsstech.com
>(513) 772-7000
>
> -----Original Message-----
>From: 	accessd-bounces at databaseadvisors.com 
>[mailto:accessd-bounces at databaseadvisors.com]  On Behalf Of 
>Pickering, Stephen
>Sent:	Tuesday, May 25, 2004 9:28 AM
>To:	'Access Developers discussion and problem solving'
>Subject:	RE: [AccessD] On DB Bloat, Bad DB Design, and various
>
>Great points, Stuart.  Plus, there's the explanations and 
>documentation of
>the changes. And the clients who don't want to pay for the 
>modifications,
>even when they prescribe the changes.
>
>I once had a client that requested a very complex report.  After 
>doing the
>analysis, documenting the business rules, and discussing the 
>mock-ups, I
>wrote the report.
>
>The client said the report wasn't right, that the calculations were 
>wrong.
>So, I went over the business rule document with the client, and the 
>client
>changed several rules.  Of course, the client said these weren't 
>changes
>-- I had gotten it wrong.
>
>So I re-did the business rules, and gave them the new report.  
>Again, it
>was "wrong".  Again, we went over the business rules.  Again, I 
>revised
>the report.
>
>This went through several iterations.  Each time it was wrong, and 
>it was
>my fault because I just didn't understand the business rules, or 
>didn't
>get them right, according to the client.
>
>The last time they revised (or "corrected") the business rules, the 
>new
>calculations looked familiar.  Sure enough, the business rules now 
>set by
>the client were the original business rules from the very first 
>iteration
>of the report.
>
>I shared the original document, dated, with the client to show them 
>that
>we had come full circle, and that they had been changing business 
>rules
>this whole time.  Were they grateful?  Did we all share a good 
>laugh, and
>learn a valuable lesson?  Sadly, no.  To the client, it was still my
>fault, and I shouldn't bill them for all of the changes, I should 
>have
>gotten it right the first time.  The fact that I did meant nothing to
>them.
>
>I learned a valuable lesson.  I quit consulting and went back into
>Corporate America.  The client is a little more understanding when 
>it's
>yourself.
>
>Don't assume that the client will pay for any and all changes they 
>request
>down the road.  Some will, but some will always try to get something 
>for
>nothing.
>
>Steve
>
>-----Stuart McLachlan's Original Message-----
>
>On 25 May 2004 at 7:45, Scott Marcus wrote:
>
>> 
>> Someone else mentioned not limiting fields to 2 letters for state
>> abbreviations. Why not? When the abbreviations jump to 3 letters, 
>I'll
>> make the field bigger. That's just part of my job. 
>> 
>
>And who pays for that work to be done?
>
>Do you  stick the client with a bill for a modification that 
>shouldn't have been needed or do you wear the cost of the time 
>yourself.
>
>What if you've got the same app rolled out in lot's of different 
>places. It can get quite expensive to provide updates to all the 
>sites.
> 
>-- 
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>
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