"Is the customer really a devil?

The original Article is from an interview with a friend of my former party A (what is Party? I have been writing this article for a long time, but it has never been released. I will give it to you after this novel adaptation.

Many programmers "hate" their superiors and often treat users as their natural enemies rather than God. In the eyes of programmers, our users can be described as unreasonable, demanding, stubborn, stingy, or even abnormal. As a result, the "God" of good ends is gradually demonized. However, today I want to talk about software construction from the perspective of a real user. By the way, this helps not all "abnormal" user groups. In fact, "the family has a difficult experience ".

 

My name is Liu xinzhi, a Hui man. After graduating from college, I successfully entered the information section of a public institution to engage in information-based work of the Organization. My position is short for "officer ". Everyone calls me Liu, and another colleague in the Department is Zhang. We are both good colleagues who are also enemies and friends, and will also compete for future promotions.

Because I love the computer industry, especially programming, sometimes I will help the Organization do some auxiliary application software and small web pages for free, but these cannot produce economic benefits, however, for me, the technical sense of accomplishment is much higher than the pleasure that money brings to me, and this is well received by the leaders of higher authorities, my name was intentionally or unintentionally placed at the front of Director Zhang in various organizational meetings. This means that everyone understands it.

 

As the business of the Organization gradually grows, the information construction needs of various business links are gradually revealed, and the identity of the information technology leader is responsible for the role of the software and Technical Reviewer of the Organization.

At this time, I also came into contact with some software companies, both in the field and in the local area. I think they share the same thing that business people say almost the same thing, for example, how can his products be used closely and their products can provide internal and external protection for all aspects, in case of product problems, it must be because the user does not have a deep understanding of the product concept, or the failure of the final payment leads to an inexplicable decline in product quality; the same is true for various technical personnel. For example, the technology of his products is absolutely advanced, and it is okay to run bugs on their computers, most of the bugs on our computers are due to misoperations caused by too much brains.

As a technical user that cannot represent the voice of all users, as a public institution, both the bug tolerance of software and the payment of various types of software payments are "highly qualified", and the failure to pay in arrears is a characteristic of our competitive advantage and the Enterprise, of course, in fact, the arrears are useless. While many software developers do not reflect the same high quality when they treat us as God.

Once, our company planned to go to the previous business system. After the bidding intention was released, it was estimated that a dozen local and foreign software companies wanted to interview and introduce their respective product designs.

I have a nickname in the Organization: "LIU Da Rooster ". Because I only want to see the actual project running effect here, I am very clear about the correct and wrong points. In my dictionary, there is no quote or sugar shell. It is also because of this nickname that I was designated by the leader as the technical controller of this project.

What is checking? Later, I realized that this is actually a very vague word. If the software is well purchased, it is because of a good leader's vision. On the contrary, there is a problem with the check level, in a word, if it is too much, it is a runny nose. However, from my point of view, it is very important to set the top priority level, so as to prevent the mixing of software with poor quality. On the one hand, it increases the difficulty of selecting software procurement, second, it also provides a relatively fair competition environment for truly powerful software vendors.

I called the ten companies with bidding intentions to decide which companies to invite through the first round of informal communication.

Generally, our company adopts invitation negotiation. That is to say, each software supplier must first pass through my audition before entering the formal bidding process. As for the final result, it is basically irrelevant to me. But don't underestimate the election. Once I don't even see it, it's a "dead ".

Company A is a local company. Although I have no contact with them, I have a good reputation in software industry according to my colleagues. So I gave them haopuan's "virgins.

A male business manager of Company A was flattered, and I clearly saw that she only had a big, slapped briefcase.

I'm glad he didn't bring a gift, or I will let him go home directly.

My predecessor was moved down to the first-line business window because he was "unable to withstand the test of sugar shells" during communication with software vendors, when he leaves, he tells me that "The more you close your software vendor, the more problematic it is ".

I believe it, and I intend not to continue the style of my predecessor.

Company A's male business manager seems to be a newbie. When rendering the features of their company's products, I even heard of him. It is estimated that his leadership did not have time to personally train him.

I told him with my head: It seems that you did not pay much attention to this project and did not do enough homework in advance.

At this time, the expression of a male looked awkward, just like a zombie steamed bread in the microwave oven. I guess his face will blow up again.

In fact, I know the strength and level of Company A very well, and their products are well-modeled before and after sales, otherwise I will not be the first to look for them.

Is it true that the alley is full of wine? A's business level is too different from their reputation in the industry. To tell the truth, I really want to remove Company A from the list, but the proposal of the section chief is superior to anything else, at this time, I began to doubt my business level and judgment ability.

I called Company B, the largest software company in the region.

B really has a big company's style and style of action, said to meet at ten o'clock A.M., the result is half past ten a big back man was late.

Male B is one of the top cigarette brands in China, and then sits down across my legs.

"Liu Ke, we have no problem with your requirements. We absolutely make a product that will satisfy you 100%." The Big back said and spoke, and the smoke circle is growing like a continuously fermented cake, until the end is covered in my neck.

I am very disgusted with the strong rhetoric of the big back. Anything that boast that Haikou describes the data as 100% of the product will inevitably pose a great risk, even if the technology passes through the after-sales service, it will also kick the ball, because Company B has worked on several projects in my predecessor, when the maintenance period ends, it is required to pay for any function change, either by making a call or by making money, it is quite different from the nanny-style service shown in their bidding documents.

I didn't smoke a cigarette with a big back. I was afraid of coughing and coughing.

My colleagues all said that products in large companies are secure and secure, but I don't think they are, many entrepreneurial small companies are more steadfast and considerate than large companies in terms of technical services in order to stand up and seize the market, however, once these entrepreneurial companies grow bigger, they will repeat the big company's "talking about money only" style.

I almost sent the door to the old man.

In order to speed up the election process, I asked two less familiar C companies and D companies to talk at the same time, both of which are foreign software companies.

In the conference room, Company C and Company D sat on both sides of the conference table. When I walked in, the two employees raised their hands to salute.

 

I can feel that the person in charge of Company C and the person in charge of Company D have had a fierce fight before I came in ".

I intentionally put the two companies together and asked Company D to attend when Company C talked about their products. C and D were a little surprised to hear of my decision, however, they can only be dumb to swallow Huanglian.

Company C spoke very hard, and Company D took notes very seriously. That was the first time I heard such a detailed and targeted product solution. I found Company D nodded frequently at the end.

Just like writing code, the difference between a master and a cainiao is who can master the artistic sense.

Next, I learned from Company D that they had improved the explanation methods and solution details during the just-in-time period. In addition to optimizing some technical links of Company C, in the after-sales service stage, Company C has made no commitments.

I am very satisfied with this three person-type communication, because there are fewer exaggerated, less casual, and less false after-sales commitments. At the same time, I think C and D have learned a lot from each other. This also shows that the market still needs competition to make progress and consumers can truly benefit from each other, monopoly will only make us all dumb-swallowed Huanglian.

A week later, my audition was completed and went smoothly. I initially recommended Company A, Company D, and a software outsourcing company e as three seed contestants for invitation negotiations, in addition, the lowest price bidding option is selected in the bidding conditions. In fact, we cannot blame our users for choosing the bidding rule that is put aside by the majority of software vendors, indeed, many software companies are focusing too much on "maximizing profits". No matter how much budget you release, they will keep up with the budget quotation, if you lose a penny, they will tell you that the company is about to close down.

On the day of the bidding, three Ade companies, after the first round of screening, tried their best. The technical solution was more advanced and scalable, and the after-sales commitment was more considerate, the final price is naturally lower.

Speaking of this, I would like to interrupt you. Although in principle, we won the lowest price, but our users can choose to publish and not publish the final price of the three companies. That is to say, the final decision is still in our hands, this is not to cheat, but to fear that companies with real strength and good service will "marry the wrong Lang" because of the uncertain price ".

After comprehensive evaluation, we still feel that Company A's products are more in line with our requirements, and the localization company is easier to maintain and upgrade software in the future, as a foreign company, Company D can only suffer from hard losses. E, the outsourcing enterprise, has the lowest price, but its technical solution is not very satisfactory. It is estimated that it is related to the company's long-term outsourcing production environment, the degree of backwardness in the technology selection makes cainiao, both of us and I, unable to keep up with the trend of the 21st century.

After winning the bid, Company A quickly assigned several engineers. I provided them with the best hardware environment and bright office space. As a result, everything went on in a "hot" atmosphere.

I thought the construction of this project was so successful, but what happened next surprised me.

I soon discovered that communication between the five engineers on site was inadequate. Three of the five are developers and two are implementers. Each time I tell the implementers about the requirements, the functions completed by the other three developers are always quite different from what I described.

"What's going on? How many times does this function need to be described ?" At a small project reporting meeting, I finally had to worry about it.

"We didn't understand it." A board-inch implementer admitted the mistake first.

I just wanted to say more, but I had to endure it with an extremely devout attitude. Then I tried my best to repeat the request to the blackboard by 101st times. Speaking of this, I would like to tell you that many users are kind, kind, and soft. Some users described by programmers as spoligans do not exist or are at least exclusive.

As a result, after 10 thousand times, Company A's image was greatly compromised in my mind. I began to regret that I threw the embroidery ball to Company.

"Hey, let's go on like this. You'll roll it out for me, we have to choose other companies to take over. "I finally shot the table and broke my mouth when I saw a messy demand interface.

I thought it would bring disruptive results, but I was wrong again.

"I heard that you are now nicknamed Liu daemon ?" I was asked with a smile one morning.

"Where is my magic head ?" I am wondering.

"It is said that you turned the developers of Company A in the last software project, and they complained that they had to resign because of neurasthenia. That's amazing. I really want to learn something from you. "Zhang replied with a bad smile.

Zhang was able to understand the situation so thoroughly, but I did not know anything in the dark. I was very suspicious and looked at Zhang, silence.

At noon, I met the section chief in the elevator. The elevator was very crowded and hot.

"Liu, I know that you are eager to work, but sometimes the pace is not too fast, slow, and not easy for development companies, it's too urgent, but the quality will drop!" The chief took the initiative to say hello to me, but his words made me confused again.

I tried to refute the section chief, but I suddenly saw a familiar face hiding behind the section chief.

I suddenly think of this person as a sales manager of Company A. He often goes through the leading offices of our company with nothing to do. It's just that he deliberately lowered his head very deep and thought I would never see him.

I did not speak. My EQ tells me that I can only listen to the instructions of the leaders in the elevator. If you have no brains to refute the elevator, it will shake violently, and then it will fall in a thrilling way.

I am still in a serious and responsible attitude, let the developers of Company A modify the function until it basically meets our technical needs.

However, nothing less than the elevator crash.

After receiving the above-mentioned notice, I was taken away as a "backbone business" because the organization has an "extremely important" grassroots business survey. Zhang is responsible for taking the lead in software projects.

I ran to the section chief's office and expressed my passion for the completion of the software project and then started the "extremely important" research, this software, under my "devil-like" coordination, has completed many functions that were not previously mentioned in the bidding documents. From my perspective, it has helped the Organization to save costs and reflect efficiency.

The Chief of the Section gave a euphemism for "obstruction" and constantly praised my strong business ability. I should go to the grass-roots level to help the staff of subordinate units to assist in business construction and spiritual civilization construction, at the same time, the tedious and headache of software construction should be "dumped" by Zhang, an inexperienced employee.

I held my fist several times and vowed I would like to continue my work on toilet paper without complaints.

 

"Liu, your starting point is good. However, this transfer means the above. To tell you the truth, XX leaders are not satisfied with your software project construction process. Company A also complained that you did not put forward requirements according to the actual business, to some extent, it hinders normal software construction progress. In addition, many functions were not available in the bidding documents. "The chief finally told me the truth.

The section chief's words make me suddenly understand: Some things need to judge whether they are right or wrong, but what angle should they look.

When I walked out of the section chief's office, I found that my fist was too slow to open, and later I found that my fingers were cramps and it hurt a lot.

Seeing this, do programmers still think that our customers are demons? In fact, our family has a difficult experience (no matter the customer or your suppliers), we can grasp our own mouth to read this story, but we cannot grasp the author of the book.

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