How much should Developers interact with Clients?

Hello, I'm developer.
I believe that there should be a few set points of contact with the customer. In traditional project management, this person is the project manager. In Scrum, you would call this person the Product Owner. In Extreme Programming, it's the customer representative. Note that in Scrum and XP, nothing says that this person has to be from the customer's organization, but only be given the voice of the customer when it comes time to make decisions.

To me, the biggest concern is the number of communication paths. The number of communication paths on your project team is defined as (N × (N-1)) / 2 where N is the number of people on the project team. If everyone on the team has communication access to the customer or client, then N increases by the number of contacts within the customer's organization, greatly increasing the communication paths. It becomes nearly impossible to know who knows what information, who said what when, and keep all communication organized.

My second biggest concern with free communication between your development team and your client is keeping track of who is saying what in terms of the current health and status of the project, meeting estimates on schedule and budget, and so on. Having a primary point of contact ensures that everyone outside the development organization knows exactly what's going on at the appropriate level of granularity, and ensures that each member of the team has everything they need to do the tasks assigned to them.
I hope to hearing your opinion and discuss with people.
TG: @audi9x
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In an ideal scenario - the engineer shouldn't interact with the client at all.

If you are a freelancer, you are filling multiple positions - proj. manager, scrum master, developer, etc.

but if you run an agency, better to place someone who can filter client's "language" to what engineer will understand and vice-versa.

you mentioned you are a developer, if you are a freelancer, for most of times you will have to communicate directly with the client or their manager, so no other way around.

but then you again mention development team. so it all matters of how your things as structured.

but in general, devs should stay away from clients, thats bad business.

lucky.sparks said:

In an ideal scenario - the engineer shouldn't interact with the client at all.

If you are a freelancer, you are filling multiple positions - proj. manager, scrum master, developer, etc.

but if you run an agency, better to place someone who can filter client's "language" to what engineer will understand and vice-versa.

you mentioned you are a developer, if you are a freelancer, for most of times you will have to communicate directly with the client or their manager, so no other way around.

but then you again mention development team. so it all matters of how your things as structured.

but in general, devs should stay away from clients, thats bad business.

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I appreciate your insights on the matter. It’s true that in an ideal world, developers might not need to interact with clients directly, and having someone in place to translate client needs into technical terms can significantly enhance the workflow.

As freelancers, we often wear multiple hats, which includes direct communication with clients. This direct interaction can sometimes lead to misunderstandings, especially when technical jargon is involved. However, I believe that having some level of engagement with clients is crucial. It allows developers to better understand their expectations and project requirements, leading to more informed and effective development.

How do you think we could better facilitate this communication flow in freelance projects while keeping the engineer focused on development?

Depends on developer himself. I would suggest for them to sit/listen in silence if you have proj. managers talking with client. So they can interrupt if the talk goes too off-road. But in general, you would need very skilled project manager, best if engineer in past that have lost passion for doing code part and who gained passion for long and boring meetings, thats the best person to become a bride between client and engineer.

Disclaimer: I did lead an agency of 15-20 engineers and we did serve banks, airlines, electronic brands(samsung, sony) and even formula F-1 for some projects, so this is from where my opinion comes.

lucky.sparks said:

Depends on developer himself. I would suggest for them to sit/listen in silence if you have proj. managers talking with client. So they can interrupt if the talk goes too off-road. But in general, you would need very skilled project manager, best if engineer in past that have lost passion for doing code part and who gained passion for long and boring meetings, thats the best person to become a bride between client and engineer.

Disclaimer: I did lead an agency of 15-20 engineers and we did serve banks, airlines, electronic brands(samsung, sony) and even formula F-1 for some projects, so this is from where my opinion comes.

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Great! Your perspective on the importance of a skilled project manager as a bridge between developers and clients resonates well with me.
However, I also believe that providing developers with some context can be beneficial. Even if they remain mostly silent, understanding the clients’ needs can enhance their problem-solving abilities and overall contribution to the project. I think this context can empower them to engage when necessary, potentially leading to more creative and effective solutions.
Finding that balance between engineering focus and necessary communication is key, and I appreciate the strategy of having a dedicated role to manage these interactions.

Yeah and getting/keeping that balance is soul-sucking experience. I'm happy that I got out. And I wish the same for you.

lucky.sparks said:

Yeah and getting/keeping that balance is soul-sucking experience. I'm happy that I got out. And I wish the same for you.

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I have recently seen many developers struggling to find clients. They are all struggling to find clients but are not getting any significant results. What do you think is the reason why they are not finding clients? Can you point me to some articles or methods that can help them?
Given your extensive background, I’d love to hear your thoughts on what strategies or approaches you found effective for meeting and cultivating good clients. What qualities do you think are essential in a client to ensure a smooth and productive working relationship?

Stefan Andreic said:

I have recently seen many developers struggling to find clients. They are all struggling to find clients but are not getting any significant results. What do you think is the reason why they are not finding clients?

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targeting.

"im a good developer who can do any task"

"I'm a wordrpess engineer being best in setting up bestspoke Wordpress sites"

"Im e-commerce artisan creating no-other-like sites for best selling products"

do you see difference between first one and the 2nd/3rd?

Stefan Andreic said:

Given your extensive background, I’d love to hear your thoughts on what strategies or approaches you found effective for meeting and cultivating good clients.

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I failed in that, which is reason why I went bancrupt. have few friends who succeeded and their success was targeting thing. i was the free bird who wanted to do custom stuff, they were very targeted and focused on specific projects only.

they succeed, I failed .

Stefan Andreic said:

What qualities do you think are essential in a client to ensure a smooth and productive working relationship?

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If they don't try to micromanage you and they don't care too much of small stuff. these are best clients and always best outcomes.

I see your point. I will tell others about your experience and opinion, that's would be helpful to them.