[thelist] developer ethics?

[David Kutcher]

> The flip side of this is, most of our clients come to us with no idea of
how
> they want to use the Web. What they really want is for us to tell them
what
> they want to do and then do it for them. I would like to think that, at my
> best, I would be looking out for the client's best interests and making
sure
> that I helped them to develop an appropriate concept and scope of work.

So what is a client supposed to do when they obviously didn't know enough
about becoming a company on the web when they signed the contract, nor had
the expertise to ensure a good product was delivered?

I agree with your point about the "spirit" not being true to the idea of a
contract, but where is the balance between the consultant's profitability
and the provision of an acceptably coded site?

I personally feel strongly about educating the client and creating a
detailed scope of work based on that education.  For example: does a client
know the pluses or minuses involved in optimizing for 800x600 vs 1024 or
640?  Do they know what it means to allow for the use of DHTML and Flash and
risks associated?  What if the consultant doesn't educate them in these
decisions (and they don't know what it means) and the consultant delivers a
flash-only site that isn't viewable to the majority of the client's
audience?  The consultant followed the letter of the contract... but did
they fulfill the contract?

David
www.confluentforms.com