Top Tips for Account Managers

eh?I started tweeting some Top Tips about account managers this week which seemed to strike a chord, so I’ve written a few more. If you agree, disagree or have more tips please add them in the comments. I’d especially love to hear from account managers about the frustrations of precious designers and non-communicating developers. May I suggest anonymity to prevent being sacked.

I’ve worked with many account managers and producers (I was never sure quite what the difference was, different titles at different places). Some are brilliant, some are absolutely terrible. I’ve also done quite a bit of account management myself with my own clients. I guess I’m lucky because most of my projects are small and since I’m also building the thing communication is very easy. I just look in the mirror and talk.

It’s easy to do a rant about how an account manager has pissed on your bonfire but I’ve tried to be constructive, I’ve drawn on my experience of good and bad to make some tips which might actually be useful to someone.

Top Tip 1: You are a conduit for communication

  • Your most important job is to aid communication between your team of experts and the client
  • If your desk is out of shouting range of the team, you’re not in the team
  • The client is not ‘your’ client. They are not a delicate flower to be shielded from those big scary developers
  • If another member of the team talks to the client, they will not insult the client’s mother, shit on the client’s sofa or have sex with the clients partner and post a video on youtube
  • If you feel you are the only one who really understands what the client wants and therefore have final say in what is presented you have failed at your most important task
  • Projects run much more smoothly if the client meets with key members of your team at key points in the project, especially at the start.

Top Tip 2: Tools to use

  • Microsoft Word is not a tool that can be used to design interactive experiences
  • Flat designs in Photoshop are fine for straightforward web pages and look & feel but they don’t tell the whole story for more complex interactive projects

Top Tip 3: Prototype

  • Clients will sign off flat designs without understanding all the implications of the interaction they represent, so if it’s complex get them to sign off a working prototype

Top Tip 4: Your team are experts

  • If you only do design amends your client suggests your project will go over time and budget
  • Your team have (or should have unless you’ve employed retards) years of experience in the thing you’re trying to create. Dismiss their input at your peril
  • Don’t nitpick and pixel push design work based on your personal interpretation of the clients requirements. Your area of expertise (should be) communication, documentation and management

Top Tip 5: Honesty never bites you in the ass

  • Setting deadlines based on when the client wants to ’see something’ will not make that feature quicker to develop.
  • Don’t create false deadlines to motivate your team to work faster, you’ll get unnecessarily rushed design and code that will take longer to get right in the long term