Posted by Tom Fulton on February 12, 2009 at 05:26:16:
In Reply to: Re: Yo! Windows 7 posted by Keith Smith on February 11, 2009 at 22:13:44:
We are very aware of our end-user's environment ( I assume you're talking about server, network, pc's, the associated OS for all and Comet ) in that we want them to be running a stable platform with as few issues and emergencies as possible. To accomplish this we spec & quote servers with RAID 5, we recommend and install anti-virus solutions, etc. I'm not sure what you mean by "they're under pressure". I see no pressure to upgrade hardware because budgets have vanished. Like my car, the end-user owns their hardware and they're not going to upgrade to a newer/prettier model because it's there. They'll upgrade/replace only if it crashes & burns. I do see pressure at the end-user for the staff that has not been laid off to pick up the slack of doing more jobs with fewer people.
Programming requests come in with varying degrees of urgency. We've all been around long enough to know what's urgent and what's not, the triage skills have been honed over the decades. If you really have end-users that tell you to drop what you're doing and give him a change yesterday, well then remember what my Dad used to tell me - "It's easy to do business with people you like, the challenging part is doing business with people you don't like or are overly demanding." I'd recommend "How to Win Friends and Influence People" or perhaps some Zen readings.
"THEY HATE CHANGE" - They don't hate change. End-users, like you and I, try to maximize the utility of their investments in hardware & software. They aren't stupid, they know that hardware & OS software evolve, but in these challenging economic times they will try to squeeze every bit of utility out of what they've got.
"WHAT DID YOU DO?" - Last night? I can't tell you. What did I do when and about what? Overly aggressive demands for software modifications? I provide a quote and a timeframe for implementation.
"THEY RESIST" - Last night? Actually, she didn't... Who resists what? End-Users resisting subscriptions/upgrades? I discussed that above. Resist my quotes and timeframes? Well, actually I am being asked more frequently to sharpen my pencil, but hey, everybody's in the same boat for this depression. For a good customer I'll give them a break and move them to the front of the line if it's possible. I won't be taken advantage of or work for free, but we're on really good terms with 95% of our end-users.
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