Can I Just Talk to a “Real” Person?

Very early in my career I was tasked with writing a software application for a client. Since it was a small project, the software firm I worked for at the time assigned me to work on it solo. The specifications for the project were given to the salesperson, who then relayed those requirements to me, the developer. It was so informal that most of the information was just provided verbally. They had no formal written plan, just a few hand-written notes.

This was at a time before cell phones had come on the scene. Back then we all carried numeric pagers. If there was an emergency, I got a page to let me know I should call the office. While most of our work was done in our own offices, we would periodically go onsite to meet with the client and review specifications and frankly to let them see us actually working on their software. It reassured them that we were not just sitting in our office playing Duke Nuke’m while we sent them a bill.

So, one morning I headed over to the client’s office. I met with a couple of key contacts to review my progress and to ask them a few questions. Then I asked if they had a desk where I could work for a while. They showed me to a workspace and off I went programming. After working for about an hour my pager sounded. It was the office, so I knew I needed to find a phone. I asked one of the employees where I could make a call and then I rang the office.

Our office manager answered and told me I needed to leave immediately. When I asked her why, she informed me that the client I was currently working for had just called our office to tell us that they have decided to put the project on hold. The people I had literally just met with, were the same ones who called our office to put the project on hold. They were sitting not, even 15 feet away from where I had been working for the past hour.

So why didn’t they simply walk over and tell me face to face? Why did it take a phone call that led to a page which led to another phone call? Why all the cloak and dagger? Honestly, I have no idea. I was young, inexperienced, and far too afraid to ask. I just packed my bag and headed out the door. But, that experience has always stuck with me. It has made me value one on one communication in such a significant way. At Ticomix I’m very proud to say that our software architects understand this value too. They invest time with our clients so that they can really understand not just their technology needs but also so that they can understand their business. The beauty of this is that they build relationships of trust. With that trust established, everyone involved feels the value of the one-on-one conversation with “real” people.