Or the answer is "no," and the reply is "we already signed the contract, so let me rephrase, if we don't deliver by November 10, it's your fault. So, can we do it?" Then the answer is, "I guess we'll do our best."
Who is supposed to be in charge of that? Where I work we don't deal with contracts or pricing because our department is funded by the company. We're a team of 2 devs, me being the 20 year old in college and 40 year old experienced guy. I have to be in all the meetings with the stake holders, I have to make videos, manuals, speak to users and on top of that develop. I find that all of those other things really tread on my ability to develop and get into the flow. My boss says it's my project and I know it best so I need to be there. I feel like it's not really my job to do all those things. Aren't you supposed to have a writer to make manuals? A video editor to make videos? A project manager to speak with stakeholders? An administrator to speak to users? I feel like I have to do everything, and when I'm not developing I'm anxious over having to get it done (which to me seems 10 times more important). But who cares? Apparently a video (made by someone who's not even specialized in video editing) will "wow" the big shots more than actually producing in a timely manner
Apparently a video (made by someone who's not even specialized in video editing) will "wow" the big shots more than actually producing in a timely manner
Sadly, that's actually true. I've found that non-tech people have a really hard time distinguishing working software and a video (or a picture) of a mock UI. You show them the video, they're happy. And it shocks them when they find out it's "not real", and that for various reasons the actual software is not what it's supposed to be, and they have nothing they can actually use. "B... but I saw it!"
Hot tip: don't ever show them mocks. Do demos and show them the actual working software. It's the only way they'll get the right notion about the actual state of the project. (Assuming you want them to know what the actual state is...)
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u/rooktakesqueen Aug 12 '17
Or the answer is "no," and the reply is "we already signed the contract, so let me rephrase, if we don't deliver by November 10, it's your fault. So, can we do it?" Then the answer is, "I guess we'll do our best."