Communication Expectations, and the Biggest Developer Conference of this Summer in Europe
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Hi Friend,
Again, I'm sipping on a coffee as I type these words. Instead of the usual doppio, it's an espresso tonic.
Since I'll be in one place for a while, I bought an automatic espresso machine so I can have Costa Rican coffee every day. So please, I'm open to recommendations on coffee beans.
Let's get to the business of IT:
Communication expectations
As an entrepreneur, working with clients involves many more skills than development. A good example is communication.
Setting expectations early is super important. As developers, it’s common to go back to our workstations after we agree on the initial scope, requirements, and timeline, and start wildly hitting the keyboard.
A couple weeks go by, and the client emails: “What’s up with my product?”
You can think — “Well, nothing. I’m coding, leave me alone!” That could be 100% true, but the client just paid a lot of money to you, so they’re understandably worried.
Instead, there’s 1 thing to do before the project begins, and 2 things during the project.
Be clear about communication and release expectations before you sign the contract. Explain how often and how to communicate. Be sure to outline a release schedule too.
Once you’ve started, release early and often.
You don’t want to build a complete feature only to get feedback saying it doesn’t work the way it should. So…
Share progress updates
Talk about requirements
Ask. more. questions.
Let’s look at a contract paragraph example:
“[DEVELOPER] and [CLIENT] meet every Tuesday for a 15-minute stand-up meeting in order to discuss development progress and resolve any open issues. The meeting notes will be sent by [DEVELOPER] to [CLIENT]. The meeting notes serve as specifications. Any other questions or topics should be submitted by email to [DEVELOPER_EMAIL]. Emails are replied to within 48 hours.”
“[DEVELOPER] releases new application versions every second Monday. The Android version is released through Google Play Beta, while the iOS version is released through Testflight. [CLIENT] has three working days to test and provide feedback through the integrated bug tracking system.”
2 New Stuff from Me
WeAreDevelopers World Congress 2022
Europe’s biggest dev conference of the summer starts in 10 days. Speakers include the CEO of Github, CTO of Stripe, C++ inventor, CSS inventor, the one and only John Romero, and yours truly.
2 days of fun and learning in one of Europe’s best cities, Berlin.
I’m giving away a free ticket! I don’t need you to share, like, follow, or anything else. Send me a reply about three things you’re interested in the business of IT or building production apps.
I’ll contact the winner on Wednesday, 8 June. Good luck!
If you don’t want to wait, get your tickets here, and use the WWC22_FRIENDS20 code for 20% off.
It doesn't make sense to compare these two.
Tailwind is all about utility classes and the freedom to "use CSS without writing CSS". Be creative, build your stuff.
Bootstrap is giving you a bunch of pre-coded elements. Less creativity, faster time to market.
— David Levai (@thedevdavid)
May 30, 2022
1 Tweet of the Month
YC's message to founders:
— Manish Singh (@refsrc)
May 19, 2022
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Away from keyboard
Back in Europe for the summer. Before coming back home to Budapest, I spent some time in the rural Netherlands and wow, it looks great! I always heard about the bike culture there but experiencing it is completely different.
First digital nomad guides are in progress and scheduled to release in the coming weeks.
While I’m here, I have some time to lean back into gaming on my Xbox. I missed a few interesting games in the past months, so It Takes Two, and GTA Trilogy Remaster, here I come! (Or probably I’ll just play some Siege as always since 2016)
Do you have any must-play game recommendations?
Thank you so much for reading my email! I’d be glad to hear from you if you have any questions, feedback, or comments.
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Until next time,
David