How to Be a Client Suppliers Do Their Best Work For

Suppliers are not interchangeable and neither are clients

Two clients with the same budget and the same brief get different outcomes, and a substantial share of the difference is on the client side.

None of what follows is about being demanding or accommodating. It is about removing the friction that turns a ten-week project into a sixteen-week one.

Answer questions within a day

The single strongest predictor of a project finishing on time is how quickly the client answers questions. Unanswered questions become assumptions, assumptions become rework, and rework becomes delay.

If you cannot answer within a day, say so and give a date. Silence is what causes the damage, not the delay itself.

Nominate one decision-maker

Projects with a committee move at the speed of the slowest scheduler. One person with authority to decide, who consults others as needed, is dramatically faster.

That person needs about half a day a week. If nobody can commit that, the project is under-resourced on your side and will show it.

Attend the demonstrations, and give real feedback

• Turn up — a demonstration nobody attends is a wasted checkpoint
• Click things yourself rather than watching a scripted walkthrough
• Say what is wrong now, not at the end
• Bring the people who will use it, not just the sponsor

Be honest about the awkward things

The legacy system nobody wants to touch, the approval process that takes three weeks, the data that is in a poor state, the previous attempt that failed. Disclosing these gets you a realistic plan; hiding them gets you an optimistic one followed by a change request.

Good suppliers will not judge you for any of it. They will all encounter it anyway.

What to expect in return

1. Working software regularly, not status reports
2. Bad news early, with options
3. Clear pricing for changes rather than absorbed scope and quiet resentment
4. Documentation as a deliverable
5. Willingness to tell you when you are asking for the wrong thing

If you are doing your part and not getting these, that is worth raising directly and early.

Frequently asked questions