

Clients need deadlines too - Swizec
http://swizec.com/blog/clients-need-deadlines-too/swizec/1490

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coffeeaddicted
I just learned the same lesson my last project. I got most material only after
the original deadline and furthermore no-one had even really looked at the
stuff I had coded before that (using placeholder media). Which forced me then
to take a lot of unpaid "free" days in my follow-up project just to handle
that stuff as it arrived. And certainly still having an old project in mind
while coding at something else already was just plain horrible.

So yeah - I will also make sure next contract mentions that the client has to
deliver it's part or that there is at least some compensation otherwise. I had
even thought about that when doing that contract, but got persuaded otherwise
as the company seemed to want that deadline so badly for themselves that I
just didn't expect them then to just push it internally for a month.

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gallerytungsten
I've experienced this problem as well. You do the work quickly, then the
client drags their feet in even looking at it. When they do, they send changes
in dribs and drabs, costing you time and money.

The solution? If you suspect a client is this kind of time-waster, include a
clause about "XX days to review" and have a surcharge after that.

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Swizec
That sounds like a pretty reasonable thing to do. I'll do it next time.

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CWIZO
I once made a page for a client with which he was happy and he paid for my
work. But then he, apparently, forgot about the page and never put any content
on it. About 5 years after that he apparently ordered a new page from somebody
else and now they are using it. Weird :)

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Swizec
Hai CWIZO. Hey at least you got paid, I'm not getting paid that's the problem
:D

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blaines
I've been getting this from hacker news links all day, what's the deal?

    
    
      Error establishing a database connection
    
    

I'm dealing with a client right now that's completely ignored their deadline,
I'm not really sure what I can do.

What are your strategies to prevent client procrastination?

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Jabbles
Is it worth pursuing these clients with a short message from your "legal
department" (after say, a month)? Or would that create such hostility that
you'd lose the client for future work? Would that be a bad thing?

If it's not worth pursuing, then what can be done about clients that "don't
pay"?

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Swizec
Well since nothing like this is in the contract we signed, even my "legal
department" can't do anything. There was no agreed-upon deadline on when
they're supposed to do anything, just when I was supposed to deliver the work.
My fault, I know, but I honestly didn't expect this to happen.

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Robin_Message
IANAL, but contracts have implied terms (which will depend on your
jurisdiction.) I'd have thought a lawyer could make a fairly robust argument
that they cannot spend forever deciding whether they pay you or not.

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nroach
502 Bad Gateway

nginx/0.7.65

~~~
Swizec
Thanks, fixed it.

