sharpenr

Commissioning Clients and Ultimate Clients

Posted by Jaan on December 4 2 comments

A brilliant way to figure out if you are delivering good sites and apps is to ask the end user (or “Ultimate Client”) what they think.

The Ultimate Client is a person who will use the site or software you are crafting. In most cases this is not the same person that commissioned the assignment (i.e. “Commissioning Client”).

The Commissioning Client’s main focus is often to meet goals decided by marketing departments or satisfy internal departments with widely differing agendas. In a small start up the role of the Commissioning Client might be played out by the founder who is certain that his vision is right and everyone else around him is wrong.

Either way – the Ultimate Client often gets left out of the picture.

If you suspect the above scenarios apply to your situation it might be a good idea to work with your client (or colleague) to gently shake up the way they look at their audience before you write a proposal or scope document.

Offer to educate your counterpart, run some scenarios, and show a few examples of how different agendas can affect the outcome. Most importantly go in to these meetings with an eye to ask questions and to educate!

Once you have the Commissioning Client on board invite people who will, or are likely to, be using the app, and ask them the same type of questions.

This does not replace stakeholder interviews or any testing you rely on during or after the development phase. Instead it is a good way to get early indications on how a site might be perceived by its intended audience. Plus if your client or colleague simply won’t listen to you, they might listen to, say, 5 out of 6 potential Ultimate Clients who share your opinion.

The brilliant thing is that working like this does not pit you against your client (or colleague). On the contrary.

You both have a very important thing in common. You both, ultimately, work for the Ultimate Client and need to work together to deliver the best possible result to them.

Some related reading from the mind of Khoi Vin.