Unpacking ‘Client Driven’

In a previous post I introduced the EndGame technical manifesto:

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“Build Client Driven long-lived solutions that are both sturdy and maintainable.”

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‘Client Driven’ is an expression of how our technical team should work with our clients to achieve a solution.

When I explain this, I like to use the analogy of a rally car team: imagining EndGame as the driver and our client as the co-driver. Both are required for success. The driver executes on the foresight and planning of the co-driver.

The client (co-driver) will see the road ahead, judge the terrain and work out where they want go. We (as the driver) are in charge of where the wheels hit the road.

The client is navigating the road of Cost, Quality and Features. They’re making the decisions and ‘calling out’ plays about how to achieve success. It’s our job to ensure the calls are followed in such a way that we not only stay in the race, but also win.

This isn’t a bad thing! From a development perspective it’s easy to get into a quality or feature spiral, which ends up eating all the head space we have to offer.

However, we won’t let ourselves get navigated into holes that we know exist. As executors of our clients’ ideas, we’re assuming we have a position to leverage — providing our experience to create a long-lived, sturdy and maintainable solution.

It’s easy for our clients and us to fall into the trap of ‘solutions for solutions sake’. We’re always striving to produce value for our clients even if we have to tell them that some ideas won’t do that.

It’s important that we’re not just building solutions. Ultimately, we’re meeting the objective of producing usable software that will benefit our client in the long run.

At our core we accept the principles of an agile partnership. We couldn’t not have the co-driver in the car (and have the road completely pre-planned before we race). While pre-planning is important, it’s in the middle of the race that you might come across something blocking your way — and the co-driver is the only person that will be able to tell you (before it all goes horribly wrong!).

The rally team analogy is top of mind for everyone at EndGame. It empowers us to ask if a decision we’re making adds to the value of the solution as usable software — and feel comfortable questioning client decisions that may not live up to this ideal.

At the finish line, the judgement of a rally team is not how well the driver executed or how well the co-driver called the plays — but how well the two worked together.

Everyone at EndGame is striving to achieve this balance as we acknowledge it’s not just about the driving speed or the client’s vision. But the harmony we can reach with a Client Driven philosophy.

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