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When we are working on any project, all requirements are clear and documented and approved by the clients as well. As per we completed tasks our clients will look into them.

But one client changes his requirements like that "this does not look good, please change it to this and that". For example, he changes any designing related task periodically. This won't allow us to close the project, as we need to make those new changes.

How to convenience the customer in this situation? Is it good if we denied him the changes?

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  • Which methodology you are using for development? e.g. Waterfall model, V model, Incremental model, RAD model, Agile model. Iterative model, Spiral model
    – Jagz W
    Mar 10, 2016 at 4:05

3 Answers 3

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Customers are not always right. But they're the ones with the money. You need to work with them to help them figure out what's right (if possible), if you want the money. Often they don't know what they want until they see it, which means going through a few iterations of not-quite.

If you're being paid by the hour, every late change is more billable hours. Smile at the customer, grumble privately, make the change and take the money.

If you're being paid by contract, the contract should have stated that a specific number of changes (measured in estimated additional hours?) would be accepted before certain dates, and that they would cause the target date to be pushed back correspondingly. Beyond that it's maintenance rather than development and must be contracted separately. How much your company lets them cheat on that is something you need to work out, trading off customer satisfaction and your reputation against the additional cost.

If you're being paid by contract and the contract DIDN'T have clauses dealing with changes... well, next time write a better contract; for now, you're sorta stuck if you want this customer to be a good reference for future contracts.

Welcome to the real world. The only thing truly unchanging is change.

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    I'd add that it's nearly impossible to have perfect specs, especially at the first try. Change is normal. As Keshlam says, be sure to prepare for change.
    – gazzz0x2z
    Mar 10, 2016 at 8:42
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    The rule: The customer is always right, as long as the customer pays :-)
    – gnasher729
    Mar 10, 2016 at 9:12
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    @gnasher: I don't quite go that far. Sometimes the customer needs help understanding the implications of their decisions; part of what they're buying is your expert advice. But if they choose to do something different...
    – keshlam
    Mar 10, 2016 at 12:34
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I get this quite a lot, it's fairly simple and straightforward to resolve. Have the plan all agreed upon when you start, any deviations from that plan are extra charges usually at an hourly rate which I inform them of beforehand. Make that clear at the start.

I have had plenty of clients who haven't thought things through properly beforehand. I do my best to make sure there is a solid plan, and I make sure it's agreed on. Anything after that is an extra bill. Any problems paying that extra need to be sorted out before I begin actioning any requests.

This is a professional way to accomplish things and being transparent from the start minimises any possibility of dispute. To be honest I don't care if they want to take the whole project off on a tangent and do something very different, so long as I'm getting paid.

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It's not really a workplace question, it's a business question. I would assume that someone higher up in your company will decide whether changes are made against payment, or changes will be made free of charge, or changes will not be made, and if that person decides that changes are made, then you write down what changes were forced onto you after delivering the job as requested, and then you do it.

If your find that the company that employs you makes lots of changes free of charge, you might be worried about the financial future of the company, and working for a company that goes bankrupt isn't fun, so in that case you might consider looking around for other jobs. If they charge for changes, everything is fine.

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