How to talk to a client about a poorly scoped project with changing requirements?

Question

I am currently making a side project for a company.

This company has had projects before on which I worked on. The issue this time is that, they had a tight deadline, they sent me the specs and I made estimations and we signed a contract on some work bases. They didn't have all their work together.. so some assets were missing etc.. anyway, I finished the work on time. But by then, they decided something had come up, it was very urgent, and since I had barely had issues in the past I took it.

They did not ask me to spec it, or estimate it. They told me if I could go along with it, because they needed it urgently and I said yes. Things only got worse from here.

They sent me some mockups. I started the work.. but a dev on their team, decided it would be great to help, so he did some job without saying, and sent it on monday (the deadline was friday). I brushed it, got the work he had done and worked with it. He did the same on Tuesday. So I said, whenever he was finished, it would be great to let me know (and then I explained the reasons why). I heard nothing, so I kept working... but he sent more work on Wednesday, Thursday and on Friday where he also said he was done. Now most of this work conflicts with the design I had gotten, so I raised this issue with the manager as well as the issue that both people not working together is only slowing things down, and that he was not meant to be working on it, they resolved the design but asked me to work on it. The issue is, I have put a bunch of hours because of that, I haven't estimated the work and because now I have to work with half of someone else's work (which is also not well done because on the first place he wasn't familiar with that development) has added quite a few hours.

I don't really want to work on this condition, and I don't think that working without estimation is a good idea, and that was my first mistake. How could I leave the project and explained all of this. As it is, the deadline hasn't even been met.

Answer 1

as with so many questions here on The Workplace, it sounds like you just need to reach out to your contact and discuss everything that's on your mind. I think great teams should make it a habit to solve problems early, and practice radical candor--that is, talking directly and openly about what's on their mind.

So I said, whenever he was finished, it would be great to let me know (and then I explained the reasons why). I heard nothing

Sounds like you did the right thing, but since you didn't get the result you wanted, perhaps you could have reached out by phone or some other channel?

Also, in the future, you could perhaps avoid some of these situations by establishing more clear work terms in the form of a written contract--which I see you've also considered.

At this point, there's really no alternative to just booking some time with the client to explain how things progressed and how it makes you uncomfortable. Without blaming others or taking it too personally, simply discuss the solution objectively, as if you're a third-party observer who just wants what is best for everyone; that is, try and stay focused on a win-win.

Best of luck!