Christmas is Infectious
Posts tagged doctor
Poor treatment
Can you imagine treating your doctor this way?
Unfortunately, this is how many web developers and software developers are treated regularly by clients.
Due to website development being a pretty new occupation, there are still a lot of people out there that do not understand what goes in to making that cool website, or that awesome online application.
I have personally been on the receiving end of some pretty ridiculous and outright stupid requests by clients.
It is so common, that sites like Clients From Hell are able to exist and be filled with stories which at first seem totally fictional. But they are not.
But go and speak to someone who works in web development and ask them about horror clients. Every one of them will have a story to tell you.
My theory is that because the average person only sees the front end of websites, they have no idea of the coding work and time it takes to create a good web product. They do not get to “look under the hood” and see all the scripts, calls, CSS styles, etc.
If they did, there would be more understanding that this is REAL work, not just a hobby people do on computers in their spare time.
(Also, many “discount” operators such as outsourced development teams & unqualified designers help to perpetuate a myth that this work is cheap & easy to do)
Think about industries where customers have a better understanding of who the end result is produced:
– Customers would not tell a mechanic to throw in free extras just because they are in the engine anyway.
– Clients would not ask an architect to totally redesign a building plan once it is done, by 9am the next day, because their 6yr old son did not like it.
– House painters are not asked to re-paint a house for free, because the colour now looks different when viewed in the morning sun.
– Lawyers are not asked to work on a case for free, just because it may look good in their resume later.
Sadly, elements of all these things exist within the current client-web developer dynamic.
I, for one, hope this changes soon.
Self Contained Network
Sometimes renaming things can get out of hand.
It seems that too often, companies try to breathe new life into a product or brand by renaming it.
In all too many cases, however, those efforts fail to yield the desired results.
On the one side are people who think it’s a fantastic idea (usually this is called the ‘Marketing Department’).
They claim that the old name had problems, gave the wrong impression or was out of touch with modern consumers.
On the other side are people who think it’s a terrible idea. This group is normally known as CONSUMERS.
If they are used to the old name, it can be to abandon it. Regular users may lose faith in the product, or not even know it is the same thing and stop using it altogether.
Often, a renaming occurs when a product or service has recieved negative press coverage.
This may be a justified course of action in order to re-establish the brand.
Other times, when sales are flagging, a product name can be changed (or chosen) to take advantage of buzzwords and terms that the “modern consumers” are using.
There has been no bigger example of his than the recent “Isnack 2.0″ incident in Australia, by Kraft foods.
This was a spectacularly massive fail which proved that Marketing people are very often out of touch with the very people they claim to be able to interact with – the general public.
Here are some helpful tips for any marketers who may be reading this:
– putting an “i” or an “e” in front of a word does not make it modern or futuristic
– web 2.0 is nothing more then a buzz word
– not EVERYTHING has to have a Facebook fanpage
– do not add “TW” to the front of your product name to try to appeal to twitter users. (I have mentioned this before)
– social networks are about the INTERACTION, not the FOLLOWER numbers
– not every new campaign needs to be crowd-sourced. (Try doing something yourself & stop being so lazy, ffs)
If you like zombies, then you should check out this site – Rezatron is by Reza Rasoli.
Reza makes these fun zombie inspired illustrations.
So, take a few minutes and enjoy the undead goodness.