“We must educate the customer” !!

I have been thinking for more than 3 weeks now about a sentence I heard during a meeting on the CMMI preparation and it really grabbed my attention with a wide smile.
“We must educate the customer”
Well, I think that those words are not only a dream but also a suggestion like making the sun shines from the west one day.
Customers don’t want to be educated, they want an output in their wallet and I hope the following example explains what I mean.

Most of the IT companies especially here in Egypt try hardly to please their customer in any means possible (or even impossible); even if it meant lending them a programmer for a couple of weeks to serve the customer needs. Ofcourse the customer at any industry is most appreciated or as they say here in Egypt 3la 3iny we raassy (which literally means: on my eye and head!!) but the project managers have to be reasonable on how they are using their resources especially if the words human and reputation are involved.

Let’s consider the example of Sa3d (saa'd), a nationwide furniture manufacturer and seller, Sa3d is a self-made man who started only as a poor and ignorant worker and ended to be a tycoon.
Sa3d asks a company called UYRS (Upon Your Request Sir) to develop an ERP system to help him manage his business and expected a duration of maximum 3 months for development.
UYRS as a CMMI level 3 certified company and a proud IT company bragged with its products infront of Sa3d and assured him that the software will take a much shorter time.

But..
UYRS’s software has to be done by standards and… methodology and… life cycle and… coding techniques to assure its quality and its max performance measures and… and… and above all apply all the CMMI standards to the letter.
By the end of the 3 months Sa3d’s accountant called UYRS manager to ask about the software delivery date and follow up with him to send him his cheque and finalize the deal.
The manager responds that there has been some delay due to their goal to produce the best quality possible to Mr. Sa3d who is one of their best customers. Mr. Sa3d is not happy he wants to see his money’s value working so he himself calls up the manager and asks to meet him.
The manager reviews with his development team about the source for the delay and how to fix it. The humble project manager argues that Mr.Sa3d’s requirements were very ambiguous and complicated and they had to produce the software with the appropriate CMMI standards. And after the manager asks him to a solution he responds that he must be educated about the process and how the software lifecycle needs should be given.

Mr. Sa3d sits with the project manager who explains to him the benefits of CMMI and how his software would be a jewel in the field of software industry in Egypt, and that he would send him a programmer to finish the project installation and deployment at Mr.Sa3d’s company premises.
After a couple of weeks, some angry phone calls and meetings, Mr. Sa3d cancels the project and asks his 4th year computer science student nephew to finish the project and take 1000 pound cash… he finishes it after one week and finally Mr.Sa3d (or elma3lem Sa3d) is happy smoking hookah in his large office and reviewing the system by Hamada his nephew.


Let me repeat that word again (happy). A happy customer is all what industry is about, a happy customer comes back, a happy customer speaks well about the company, a happy customer is a fire starter among his peers and turns to be an indirect source of marketing for the company and above all a happy customer is a measure of success.
I do not disagree with CMMI standards, on the contrary I am a fan of CMMI and respect its guidelines but it can sometimes or (unfortunately here in Egypt) most of the times be a two ways weapon if it was used incorrectly.
There’s a great difference between activity and productivity, thinking towards the solution in a value-driven way is the best potion for success.