How do you balance the needs of sales and programming? Who is responsible for managing expectations?
"This project will take six weeks to implement," I once told a client. The response, "please lie to me and tell me it can be done by the end of the week!" For another prospective client, I had estimated one week turn around, which included the purchase and provisioning of a server with software implementation and testing. Server purchase can be a bit dicey when it comes to timing, but with no shipping delays or hardware problems, the plan was doable. I thought the proposal was excellent and she would be thrilled. Feedback was "Great, so I can plan to use the database for my mailing tomorrow."
Balancing the needs of sales and programming is delicate to say the least. While unmet expectations and products that do not work can be disastrous for a company, the grab for sales often trumps the tech. How many purchases have you made where known bugs seriously impact functionality (and the patch is estimated to be released in six months or longer)? The decision between programming and marketing is clear when the decision is obviously unethical.
Another common scenario is that the tech does not realize that a product is not ready for sale. So many possibilities for working with the web exist, but it is a liquid platform with new formulas and recipes constantly changing the dynamic. Creating and inventing every day is exciting. Projecting sales is a nightmare. I like how Google is able to circumvent the whole issue by always releasing in beta, but some of us require our own Internet transport.
My caveat is watch the balance sheet, but listen to the programmer--really listen. Explain what you can and when the client cannot understand, listen, or be patient, stick to the standards and let values prevail. I know that many companies have made lots of money by not following this ethos (in fact profited by doing the exact opposite).
Experience shows that in these cases where marketing trounces tech, product development and innovation will end. Short term, perhaps, the navigation is precarious, but long term the foundation is rock solid and the possibilities...after all, the world was not created in one day. We are as far long as we are because of the diligent and often painstaking work of those programmers who build to work and to last.
