08.22.08
Posted in Design, Work at 3:57 pm by Ben
In the midst of a website redesign project, I sent an email to the client outlining several issues I was currently grappling with in the design and some of my feedback on some of the client’s feedback on previous design iterations. This email outlined the problems and suggested solutions and sought client feedback on these issues. No images or comps were provided, mainly because I wasn’t comfortable with the state the design was currently in. I naturally cc’d my supervisor, who is also managing this project.
The manager was at first upset and worried. They construed my email remarks as suggesting that I was entirely opposed to the client’s feedback, and they worried that without images to show what I was talking about, the client would get confused, and they now wanted all communication with the client to be cleared with them first.
After hearing the manager explain their concerns, I saw where they were coming from and could indeed see how my email message could be improperly interpreted or confusing. I then explained where my email was coming from. This definitely helped the manager see I was not sending this message off half-cocked. But to ensure that the message was more clearly conveyed and that no damage was done, we had a conference call with the client to go over the issues detailed in my email. It turns out the client took my email the way I intended (whew!)
The big lesson from this experience:
Emails still leave room for miscommunication where verbal or in-person communication can reduce those possibilities. After talking with the manager, we resolved our differences in what they percieved and what I actually meant in the email and the conference call with the client made sure that the proper message was communicated. The more humans involved, the more possibility for communication issues.
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Posted in Personal at 3:49 pm by Ben
This last Wednesday my wife and I celebrated a wonderful 3 years of marriage. Looking forward to many more.
Photo taken on our aniversery
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08.16.08
Posted in Personal at 5:57 pm by Ben
So the wife’s family came to visit us here in Michigan this last week. In fact they’re flying home today. Anyway we went vacationing throughout Michigan with them. It was a lot of fun and a lot of driving. We rented us a van. Interesting aside and somewhat design related: although the Chevrolet van was nice and did the job their were a bunch of small details that either were missed or were economized on to such an extent that it became noticeable - like missing arm rests for the middle door seats.
First we hit up East Lansing’s Great Lakes Folk Festival on Saturday and Sunday, where we saw some pretty amazing wood carving and other folk arts and crafts. On Monday the family hit up Muskeegon, Holland, and Grand Rapids whilst I finished up work. Then we headed UP - yes, the wonderful upper peninsula. But we went to Traverse City, then up to Mackinac City, taking the scenic coast-hugging highway. We spent the next two days based in Mackinac City, visiting Mackinac Island and other interesting sites located around the area. Then we pushed up all the way to Sault St. Marie where we viewed the locks. We then headed west to see Tahquamenon Falls. Then we headed back south, stopping in Gaylord. We then swung a bit more eastward and saw Midland and the Dow Gardens then on over to Frankenmuth to see like the worlds largest Christmas store, stopping along the way in Saginaw to pick up lunch. We finally crashed back here on Friday and fluttered around town, visiting some unique book stores and restaurants in the area before sending the in-laws home on their flight from Kalamazoo.
All-in-all it was a blast - I hope we can do something fun like this again in the future. But now I need a vacation from my vacation!
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