In the closest “big city” to me (it’s not really that big — population 95,000)…
There’s what I call “phantom crossings” that pop up regularly along the central roads.
They’re not an official zebra crossing, where we’re legally expected to wait for pedestrians to cross over. But a lot of motorists decide to stop there anyway and let people cross over.
Then along I come and…
I just want to drive from A to B and obey the actual road markings.
And now there’s pedestrians trained to just step out onto these raised humps in the road.
Well, you can imagine the carnage.
Who thought up these “phantom crossings”?
Drives me nuts. Drives pedestrians nuts too because all of a sudden I’m bearing down on them in my Honda Odyssey people-mover.
Here’s the thing…
When we’re working with clients we can have our own version of car vs pedestrian collision with them.
We can find ourselves in the situation where we’ve not painted the markings and made it clear how to work with us successfully.
If we’ve not set the tone that we’re in charge of the project. Then they’ll take the reigns.
And you’re into the nightmare zone.
If we’ve set loose timeframes. Or loose scopes. Well they’ll creep all right.
And no one wins.
The easy solution? Having those good ol’ clear boundaries.
Keep the white paint on hand to mark the crossings where you need them to be. So your clients can cross safely.
If I’m being too opaque… Tell your clients how it is.
You’re the boss of your business. You make the rules.
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Chris Milham