Meet Freddie. Freddie is who you’ll be working with on your next project. Freddie has a really exciting project, and can’t wait to get started. You’re really gonna like him.
Freddie has a healthy budget, that can expand. He is the single point of sign-off for all project activity. He’ll never come back to you with the board members’ opinions. Despite this project cost running well into the hundreds of thousands, he alone has been trusted to ensure it goes ahead. He’s really reasonable, he gets it. He’s open to suggestion and new ideas too.
Workflow wise, Freddie is totally down with your process and can happily work prototype, spiral, or waterfall. He understands the visual design process, he only wants one mockup and he’ll work with you to perfect it. He’ll give you the right feedback at the right points, and this project is his number one priority. He has no other responsibilities at the moment.
Freddie won’t beg you for SEO, no matter how many times he’s seen it mentioned in whitepapers. Technically, there are no restrictions for the project. Freddie is happy to abandon the in-house CMS, and use whatever technologies you need to make an awesome site.
Maybe once in your career you’ll get to work with Freddie. Maybe.
But for now, Freddie serves as that little illusion that the next project won’t have the same difficulties as the one sitting on your desk right now. He’s what lets you think it’s okay to flick the switch.
Stop waiting, start doing
If you spend your career waiting for the dream project, your career will be littered with mediocrity. The opportunity you need to shine is right in front of you. Even if its just a clock-in system used for factory workers in Laois, you can kill it. You’re choosing not to.
Roy Keane made his breakthrough in professional football during an irrelevant game where his team were beaten 5-1. He was spotted precisely because no matter the game, no matter the score, he was playing to win.
Shine in the dark
Anyone can get it up for a project like Freddies. Any designer can get excited about designing the next version of Twitter or Flickr, with plenty of cash, and scope for all sorts of improvements. It takes a great designer to to read a brief for an web app to let motorists apply for a driving test online, and think “Deadly, this’ll be fun. I’m gonna nail it!.”
Nirvana in their early days were known for their ability to rock an empty bar until it was full to capacity. They struggled to repeat this intensity in stadiums with 80,000 fans and light shows, but with just a 2 foot stage and 80 watt amps they forged themselves a legacy.
Better the client you know
Lawyers say there is no client as scary as an innocent man. With the fantasy scenario above, there are no end to the possibilities, and hence the sky is the limit. Freddie appears great, but he gives you little to work with. If he follows your suggestions at every turn, lets deadlines slip and scope widen, you’ll end up looking at a lot of blank pages, faces, and cheques and wondering what the hell you’re supposed to do next. You’ll mourn for the client who just wanted a tax calculator in blue Tahoma with a gradient.
Stop making excuses and starting making things great. Even if the client doesn’t appreciate it, do it for yourself. Do it enough times and Freddie will come knocking.
10 Comments
I concur
Posted by Niyaz at 7:54 am on 16 October, 2008.
Really great post, this blog has lost its “37signals-ness” in the last while and created its own voice - so well done.
Posted by ger at 10:51 am on 16 October, 2008.
That’s solid advice alright - not to mention that in a recession, you’re unlikely to have your pick of big-budget, reach-for-the-sky projects, so you better get good at doing the regular kind well.
Posted by Dave Cahill at 11:18 am on 16 October, 2008.
Following a paragraph on Nirvana with a reference to an early Kylie track. Bold move.
Posted by Andy at 11:28 am on 16 October, 2008.
Spot on, I wish that I could write as clearly and succinctly as that. The examples you give also illustrate your point very well.
Posted by Dave Jeffery at 12:27 pm on 16 October, 2008.
That Nirvana photo and anecdote made my day.
Posted by Dan Croak at 6:17 pm on 17 October, 2008.
Sweet post. There is def a freddie in me. Time to get cracking.
Posted by foxinni at 8:12 pm on 17 October, 2008.
Nivarna and soccer it’s good both
Posted by Felipe at 12:30 pm on 29 October, 2008.
Did I stumble upon the Tony Robbins blog? You can do it guys, c’mon it’s in you, you’re mom believes in you and so do I.
Posted by Tony at 8:33 pm on 29 October, 2008.
Beware of Freddie, he can’t run a business and his cheques will bounce each time.
That’s what happened with Flickr, don’t you know. Yahoo aren’t doing much better. This is idealistic motivational twaddle, belonging in some awful american self help book. Get real, show me the site that you just finished.
Posted by da bishop at 10:22 pm on 29 November, 2008.
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