Comments on: Don’t Be a “Harry”

By: Laura

Laura — Fri, 05 Nov 2010 19:41:36 +0000

More than a year after making this post – “Harry” still has no website.

By: Sno

Sno — Fri, 19 Feb 2010 05:35:53 +0000

In my short professional life dealing with computer clients, I have, thankfully, only had two “Harrys.”

In both cases, I ended up spending at least four times as long as the project should have taken. because they were too impatient to wait for a hardware recommendation and went out and bought stuff with no idea as to whether it was compatible with what they had or not. And, when I finished and submitted the bill for the project (which was understood, ahead of time, would be based on an hourly rate), both complained about the amount of the bill.

One did pay the full amount billed, but then continued to call me for quite some time after. (He’d bought a hard drive for his laptop that was twice as big as his BIOS would support, and there was no updated BIOS to support that big a drive. So I partitioned the drive and told him that — when Dell wrote an updated BIOS that would support it — we could change it. He kept calling me because his computer couldn’t see the full hard-drive. Wull, duh….) I stopped answering his calls. Thank goodness for Caller-ID.

The other Harry had the nerve to explain to me that “sometimes you just have to cut your losses and take the hit.” He offered to pay 1/10th of the bill. I took his check, and I’m sure he was completely confused when I stopped answering his calls, too. (Hey, I’d already “cut my losses and taken the hit” with him once, what did he expect?)

But the funniest thing is that they were both attorneys. For most things, attorneys charge an hourly rate. But I doubt if either one of them would have spent four times as long as something should have taken — because of my impatience — and then allowed ME to tell them how much they should have billed me.

By: Laura

Laura — Fri, 01 Jan 2010 17:28:42 +0000

I am fairly bold with my clients about things that I won’t recommend. I have turned down work for things that were dumb, or that would have hurt the business that was asking for them. I’ll always explain to a client when they want something that is a bad idea – though a few just don’t believe me, and want it anyway.

This particular client was completely unreal though, and we were in the process of developing some reusable code, so I let him push some things more than I usually would. He bailed on the contract, we issued a refund, but we had some code from it that has proven useful.

Manipulators always have the potential to warp someone – the trick is spotting them earlier. He did give me an education in that, and we have adapted our contract because of him.

By: Jason

Jason — Fri, 01 Jan 2010 11:21:31 +0000

Ohh how i can relate to this article. You are right, defining boundaries at the outset and defining that changes outside the project will be at an hourly rate usually is enough to snap it back into control. I have had many Harry’s in my time and can relate to the time wasting taking away energy from other clients. Im sure it was nothing to do with your skills or the quality of your work. It is like a customer of a mechanic coming in and saying, hey i want to have three wheels on the front of the car because i saw a car down the street with one…you know it isnt going to work, it will look awful, but you then have a choice RIGHT THEN… say NO and give a reason, with an alternative. I have found that pandering to every three versions of every change and deep code changes can be nipped in the bud by using some authority, having confidence in the work you do and the skills you have to say, look if you want three wheels on the front of your car, people will point at you because you look silly, and it will likely make you drive into a tree. It is a waste of money and my time. I have fanaticised about pulling the pin shutting down their site and giving their money back, but a business cant survive that way.

Have the confidence and authority to say “I wouldn’t recommend that” and have the confidence to say why it is a poor choice when it so clearly is. Maybe clarifying what satisfaction guaranteed really means – you can never please everyone and there will always be a Harry….Always!