Talk on collaborating with clients from the 2015 Balanced Team Summit in Grand Rapids.

1. make it better
Balancing with Clients
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2. make it better
Balancing with Clients
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(a love story)

3. make it better
Sales Process
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4. make it better
The Opportunity
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5. make it better
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Which of our offerings interest you?
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6. make it better
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Which of our offerings interest you?
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Can you loan us a few devs?
We have a tight deadline.

7. make it better
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Which of our offerings interest you?
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We’re interested in learning
more about Lean Branding…
Can you loan us a few devs?
We have a tight deadline.

8. make it better
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What is the problem you are trying to solve?
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9. make it better
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What is the problem you are trying to solve?
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People in my country need
a place that can print out
their photos, arrange them
in an album, then deliver it
to their homes

10. make it better
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What is the problem you are trying to solve?
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prepared for balanced team summit 2015
High school students often
babysit or tutor to earn
money, but many don’t
know how to run their
business professionally
People in my country need
a place that can print out
their photos, arrange them
in an album, then deliver it
to their homes

11. make it better
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What is the problem you are trying to solve?
balancing with clients
prepared for balanced team summit 2015
We can discuss after you sign our NDA

12. make it better
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prepared for balanced team summit 2015

13. make it better
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14. make it better
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What do you hope our engagement
will accomplish?
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prepared for balanced team summit 2015

15. make it better
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What do you hope our engagement
will accomplish?
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prepared for balanced team summit 2015
I want to make the site
visually attractive and add
some new features

16. make it better
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What do you hope our engagement
will accomplish?
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prepared for balanced team summit 2015
We want to increase our
visitor-to-beta-signup
conversion rate
I want to make the site
visually attractive and add
some new features

17. make it better
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prepared for balanced team summit 2015
Who are your users?

18. make it better
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Women aged 18–46 who
shop online
Who are your users?

19. make it better
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We have 200 people signed
up, but we don’t really know
Women aged 18–46 who
shop online
Who are your users?

20. make it better
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Who else on your team will be involved?

21. make it better
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It’s just me, but I will be
available to give you
feedback nights and
weekends.
Who else on your team will be involved?

22. make it better
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Danny the Product Manager
will be the lead and Jessica
is our designer and front-
end developer.
It’s just me, but I will be
available to give you
feedback nights and
weekends.
Who else on your team will be involved?

23. make it better
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“Research”
balancing with clients
prepared for balanced team summit 2015
Photo: Josh McGinn https://www.flickr.com/photos/svenstorm/5006262443

24. make it better
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What we look for
• Evidence of domain expertise
• Product Manager, Designers, or Developers on staff
• Reasonable technology fit
• Some operating history / experimentation
• Financial backing

25. make it better
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• No legal entity for the company
• Part-time Product Owner
• Negative press, lawsuits, etc.
• Can’t find them at all
Warning signs

26. make it better
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Internet
“Research”
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prepared for balanced team summit 2015
Photo: Chris Goldberg https://www.flickr.com/photos/chrisgold/15405305459

27. make it better
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Breaking Up
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Photo: Unknown, probably via Tumblr

28. make it better
Contracts
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29. make it better
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The Contract is a Marriage
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Photo: John Morton https://www.flickr.com/photos/jwm_angrymonkey/3274597464

30. make it better
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The purpose of this letter (“Agreement”) is to outline the
basic terms of our engagement, including the anticipated
scope of our services as well as the billing policies and
practices that will apply. We look forward to a collaborative
working relationship; accordingly, we will collectively refer to
<Client Name> and Philosophie as “The Team.”
balancing with clients
prepared for balanced team summit 2015
From our contract:

31. make it better
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From time to time, The Team may agree to specify a budget or
other details for a specific project. Such information may be
attached to this document as a Statement of Work (“SOW”).
balancing with clients
prepared for balanced team summit 2015
From our contract:

32. make it better
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(Minimum Viable Marriage)
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Photo: Unknown, via http://swsweetnam.wordpress.com

33. make it better
Getting Started
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34. make it better
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Workshops
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Design Spike
4-Week MVP
Product Team
Venture Investment

35. make it better
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Workshops
balancing with clients
prepared for balanced team summit 2015
Design Spike
4-Week MVP
Product Team
Venture Investment
Commitment
Time

36. make it better
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What we look for
• Good client attendance (the right people)
• Engaged clients
• Clients who are excited about collaborative design
• Clients who ask for homework

37. make it better
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• Cancellation
• Incomplete attendance
• Poor preparation
Warning signs

38. make it better
Project Ops
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39. make it better
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Same Team
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Photo: Simon Shaw / Glen Durrell https://www.flickr.com/photos/simonshawca/2451425972/in/photostream/

40. make it better
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Traditional Digital Agency
Account Manager Executive Stakeholder

41. make it better
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Traditional Digital Agency
Producer / PM
Project Team
Client PM
Executive Stakeholder
Account Manager

42. make it better
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Traditional Digital Agency
Producer / PM
Project Team
Client PM
Marketing
Executive Stakeholder
Account Manager

43. make it better
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Traditional Digital Agency
Producer / PM
Project Team
Client PM
Marketing
Mystery Stakeholder
Executive Stakeholder
Account Manager

44. make it better
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prepared for balanced team summit 2015
“Same Team” Model
Product Strategist
Designer
Product Owner
Engineer Engineer
Designer

45. make it better
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What we look for
• Team continuity (including through sales process)
• Client-side “Lean Champion”
• Diverse skill sets and perspectives
• Client-side SME

46. make it better
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• Client PM who wants to micromanage
• People missing meetings
• Timelines keep getting pushed
• Mystery Stakeholders
Warning signs

47. make it better
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Continuous Communication
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Photo: JF Sebastian https://www.flickr.com/photos/jf-sebastian/1278672897/

48. make it better
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49. make it better
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What we look for
• Frequent office visits
• Working, not meeting
• Omnipresence on digital collaboration tools

50. make it better
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• Client is never in Slack
• Slow response times
• Client wants us to “just do it”
Warning signs

51. make it better
“Collaboration Coefficient”
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52. make it better
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Artwork: G. C. Katz http://mythicalcreaturelair.deviantart.com/art/Space-Unicorn-403413384

53. make it better
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Share values.
Rally around a problem.
Minimize “handoffs.”
Do things with the client.
balancing with clients
prepared for balanced team summit 2015

54. make it better
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Thoughts?
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@skotcarruth
skot@gophilosophie.com