I continually devote a lot of time to building personal relationships with our customers and associates, in order to better understand their needs and ways of doing business. This is because we want to develop an easy, efficient working relationship and become a more effective and valuable resource.  From my experiences and conversations over time, I have realized that although individual situations vary, no matter if you are a consultant, integrator, end user, technology manager, independent programmer, or manufacturer, everyone’s trying to achieve the same goal: customer satisfaction.

It’s easy to get caught with blinders on when your focus is limited to your area of expertise. All the players in the AV industry feel their own unique pressures to be responsible for their job and satisfy the demands of their immediate client as well as the end customer.  As programmers, we often face limited project input, compressed schedules, inaccurate system information, installation difficulties, and equipment issues.  Although some are preventable or perceived as someone else’s responsibility, it’s important to recognize the challenges and adversity each party faces within the project. We should all learn to be more aware of each other’s needs and understand that, most of the time, we’re on the same team trying to work in a cooperative, non-adversarial manner. Continue reading “Can Independent Programmers Play a Vital Role on Your Team?” »