Well being in business you should already know that clients matter, if you don't, watch out!. 

I decided to post this because the other day I was speaking with a colleague and thought wow, this individual is smart, knows there stuff but is clueless when it comes to client Management. I won't get into the details nor indicate who it was but, the shocking factor was the statement that I have heard various times before "the user is stupid so you need to build as such". That is a very very very dangerous thought to be floating, the user is not stupid, the software is more commonly weak due to the Design Architect lacking foresight!!. Good intuitive software with appropriate support, training or support materials if needed is and should be the focus to reach a successful solution. Designing and developing software is a challenging craft because it is not just about the workflow and the end result, it is also about how the work should flow and more specifically how the user works in that flow of information. It may be impossible to make software that is bang on for 100% of the users, but it at least can be user friendly or even flexible enough that the user can learn it with little effort, even modify it if then need to.

When and why did our industry get so cocky ? Remember, in the words of Henry Ford "It is not the Employer who pays the wages. Employers only handle the money. It is the customer who pays the wages." This remains true today and even more true for the self-employed, sub-contractor, freelancer, guru and all knowing IT and software professional. Remember gang, the employer.. source of income is ultimately the user, work with them not against the user !