There is a phrase that is common in the world of marketing which is that “The customer is always right”, However, I believe there are situations in which this statement can at least be partially questioned.
There is no doubt that the client knows their business best and has an authoritative opinion on what will or will not benefit their organization. Furthermore, in many cases, the client possesses advanced knowledge of specialized projects, and their input is crucial for achieving the most satisfactory and profitable results for the company. In fact, when project management methodologies are applied, it is emphasized that in every project, the client must actively follow the processes in parallel with the supplier, contractor, or designer, as the case may be.
I share with the Blog readers an experience that happened to me several years ago, in my role as designer of an Information Transport Systems project, which I hope will contribute to forming a culture of ethical and professional responsibility.
First and foremost, I believe a professional's role should be to present the client with the best solution to the project's challenges, within the existing constraints. The case I want to share involves a client who needed to build a hospital, and we were tasked with developing the structured cabling project. We held heated meetings with the client's representative, and I'd like to share some (almost verbatim) quotes from those meetings as examples of the kinds of things one might encounter in these types of projects:
Sentence 1: “If the project is in the provinces, it should be cheaper”
While cost is certainly a constraint in any project, it's not possible to generalize that a hospital being built in a remote area necessarily requires a higher or lower investment. In fact, in many cases, the investment must be greater given the population's need for a healthcare center. Similarly, deploying a communications infrastructure to areas far from the capital may require feasibility studies that can increase the overall cost. Regarding the quality of the solution, it's even more unreasonable to assume that products installed in rural areas must be of lower quality than those installed in the capital.
Sentence 2: “"Since they don't know how to properly use the spaces dedicated to communications, it's better to just put open racks in small environments or shelves with racks on the wall."”
In a hospital setting, the use of spaces should definitely be primarily for clinical purposes; however, more and more hospital infrastructure (for example, imaging equipment) requires support from connectivity platforms, making IT infrastructures increasingly critical and requiring greater attention in implementation projects.
Industry standards propose the dimensions of spaces dedicated to structured cabling infrastructure, based on the number of devices, points, services, cable types, etc. These are technical criteria that must be taken into account. Additionally, it's important to consider maintenance to ensure the long-term sustainability of the installed infrastructure.
Sentence 3: ”"We shouldn't spend money on air conditioning for the IT cabinets, let's just put in a wooden door with vents."”
All IT infrastructure requires a good air conditioning system, as equipment manufacturers specify that the equipment must operate under certain conditions of temperature, relative humidity, etc. Only then will they honor warranties in case of a claim. Similarly, industry standards recommend ranges within which a telecommunications room should be designed.
Like any air conditioning system, it must have a cold air intake and a hot air return, but this is a matter for the mechanical system designer; however, we cannot simplify this design to a fan and a door with slots for the air to escape into the hallway.
Sentence 4: ”"I know some local manufacturers who can simplify the design for us."”
The role played by manufacturers, distributors, and the entire IT equipment value chain is undoubtedly crucial to a project, as they are the ones who keep us informed about product and equipment innovations, especially in this technological field. However, professionals must use their knowledge, experience, and judgment to leverage this information to achieve the project's objectives, rather than forcing the project to conform to a manufacturer's specific technological solutions.
Sentence 5: “I know a designer, I’m going to introduce you to him so he can support you…he understands me better.”
Every project must follow methodologies that clearly guarantee the project's objectives and scope; it must have properly qualified professionals, such as design engineers, supervisors, etc.; it must have sufficient information to make decisions; communication is also key; and we could continue listing all these elements that we surely know, but there is one factor that I believe must be present in one of them, and that is PROFESSIONAL ETHICS.
And I'll end there. There were many other "famous" phrases, which I prefer to save for future occasions; of course, this was a very specific case, a gem to remember (or forget).
In most cases, the actors contribute to the success of the project, but we must be prepared, since we don't know what we might find on the other side of the glass.