The otherside of Web Development

By mike@mike-miles.com

I thought I would take a moment and talk about some of the other aspects of web development (and any development for that matter). management and clients. Not that I know a whole lot about these areas, but I feel that as a developer it’s important to have an understanding of these types of things.

Management

Unless you’re a freelance developer you most likely report to a PM (Project Manager) and/or Dev Lead (Sometimes these roles can be one in the same).  Some people I know regard their PM’s as strictly management, someone who just bosses you around.  That’s the wrong way to think.  A PM to a developer is like a handler to a spy. A handler is a spy’s contact, who then relates everything to the agency/government that spy works for, they are the spy’s go to guy.  That how you should think of your PM, he’s your contact to the other side of development.   If you have a problem with a clients demands, or with upper management your PM should be the guy (or gal) you talk to, its their job to make sure everything runs smoothly, and for that to happen they need to keep you (the developer) happy.  Thats not to say they wont kick your butt when they need to (stuff does need to get done after all).

Just as you’ll confuse your PM with programming terms and talk, they most likely will confuse you with management terms, like ‘agile practices’ or ‘gant chart’, ’serial requirements’, ’scope document’.  It’s important that you two meet on some level playing ground (especially for that last term, oh boy).  So I suggest as a developer you brush up on a bit of your management knowledge because it can make work less stressful, and easier for you to communicate your ideas and needs better.

I for example follow a blog by a Joshua Milane (http://mittechnical.com) he’s a PM with alot of experince, and seems to write about the topic in an easy to understand method.

Clients

They people who cause you all your headaches by demanding ridiculous ideas that they expect to be done ASAP.  No developer likes talking with clients (at least any that I’ve met) plus that’s one of the reasons why you have a PM (see above).  But sometimes the inevitable happens, and you have to deal with clients directly.  My approach for dealing with and talking to clients is the same as my programming method, K.I.S.S.  No not the band (thou, they do kick ass)  I’m talking about Keep It Simple Stupid.  If you start getting to technical with a client your going to confuse them, confused clients are unhappy clients and unhappy clients dont pay.  So Always try to explain things in a simple form (if you have to explain yourself) and be honest with clients.  If you cant build something for them, don’t lie about it. Sure you may lose the client, but they may come back to you in the future with other projects because of how you handled them.

Ok its time to go back to what I know, I have a few functions to build.