Description
I was hired by an app agency for a fortnight and was immediately thrown into a heated client call. During my two weeks I managed to reach my goal of salvaging the client relationship through clear communication with both them and the lead developer, delivering a complete set of visuals for their outstanding app—iRate allows parents and relatives to provide player ratings of youth football matches to enable recongition and achievement.
Feelings
Having to handle a difficult client call on my first morning felt overwhelming, but by remaining calm and listening to their issues I was able to keep a clear head and promise realistic deliverables. It was clear the app team were very nervous about the relationship and showed a lot of trust in me to allow me to handle it, and they were happy with how I resolved the situation and managed to set the project back on course.
Evaluation
My time on this project was hectic, working in a tense, but friendly atmosphere. Working directly alongside the lead programmer, my design process was different to what had gone before but demonstrated to the team that we could deliver iterative updates to provide results to the client at an earlier stage, with no additional work. This helped put the developer at ease and allowed him to refocus.
Analysis
This project was successful because I remained calm and collected under intense pressure—from both sides of the relationship. Walking into an existing project with a clear head can give you an advantage over others who are already ingrained in the work—but only if you can clearly communicate your observations.
Conclusion
My self-belief increased massively as a result of this project, I learnt that my calm approach can help improve even the most difficult situations when I use it to increase communication and provide structured deliverables. This project could have been improved by adopting an ‘MVP and iterate’ approach from the start, and explaining it with the clients at the outset.
Future improvements
To ease the clients’ worries further, I might have produced a working prototype of the designs to allow the client to understand the app easier and experience the flow in a more realistic way. Anything that can be done to improve the client experience while they wait for results will make for a better relationship and end product.