So there’s always been an issue between account services and developers/ designers/ creatives/ a.k.a. the people who do the work. Account service people have the best interests of the client in mind, but they also want to make the client very happy. This has (and always will) the potential for abuse.
If the client wants something, let’s call it “stupid thing X”, the account service wants to make the client happy, so says, “of course we can do that”. Now “stupid thing X”, or STX, is only stupid because it’s stupid – not the client. The client is smart, I mean, they came to you to do their Web didn’t they? The problem is that they asked for STX without knowing that it was either not in their budget, not the right tech to get them to their goal, or something that is completely superfluous to the action of the site. We’ve all run into STX and we’ve all told the client why we though about it and think that there’s another way to get them where they need to go.
Because Account Service has already promised the client that development was going to get them their new, shiny, “stupid thing X”, we as developers look the bad guy when the Account Service rep complains that we have to go tell the client “stupid thing X” won’t work for her/him. This can be solved through consistent, clear inter-office communique.
The party line, so says the entity known as Wikipedia: “The Marxist-Leninist concept of democratic centralism involves strict adherence to, and defense of, a communist party’s positions in public, while in inner-party debate sessions, the line can be questioned, criticized, and changed if necessary.” This is what we mean by party-line. We can talk it all over inside the agency, but the client sees one face, one unified front set on helping them achieve their goals because we are a well-oiled, sleek uber-machine of creative awesomeness.
Account Service must be trained well, they need to understand how time and organizational structure in done internally. They should always be open to ask questions of creatives, and be trained in the subtle art of weaning a client to a line of “Well, that’s interesting! Let me run it by the creatives and see if there might be a more economical, or direct method to help you achieve our goals. It might be that that’ll work just fine!” This is helpful because it makes the client feel like a rather smart chap, shows her that her money is being well spent and the entire team is thinking of her and her goals for the site, and that the Account Service is taking care of everything (‘our’ goals makes the client part of the team, you see).
Account Service, go talk to your creatives – see what they have to say. Read their blogs, find out what they think. They like to rant a lot, so you’re bound to pick something up. Get out there and keep the client happy, but toe the party line on what you agree to!
