Business-focused custom software

Unfortunately, the disappearing customer is not any better than the disappearing programmer during a development project. When a customer doesn’t respond to communication requests in a timely fashion, it slows the entire effort down (or in some cases, grinds it to a complete halt!)

If you have hired a programmer for a custom development effort, make arrangements for someone else to respond to questions if you will be on vacation or otherwise unavailable for more than a day or two. And use an auto-responder so that people emailing you know what to expect. Better yet: let others know what is going on ahead of time, if possible.

Otherwise, don’t be surprised when your project isn’t completed by the deadline.