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As far as I know they were not actually upset.
If it moves, compile it
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loctrice wrote: so I'll have to work on this.
Why?
Are you going to keep this job for the rest of your life? Do you want to move into full time customer support or professional services? Do you want to be a business analyst?
If no then you might consider focusing on your technical skills rather than your interpersonal ones with the presumption that you will find a job at a company where they hire people as developers and hire other different people for roles that require interactions with customers.
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jschell wrote: Why?
Are you going to keep this job for the rest of your life?
I plan on keeping it for a while at least.
If it moves, compile it
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Sales people tend to criticize us for being blunt, but rarely realize that 'sales-mode' isn't always the appropriate response either. Once you reeled them in, you have to be professional; which means not wasting each others time.
When a customer sends a mail with a few simple questions, he expects you to return simple answers. He doesn't need to hear anymore how much we care about security and how carefully we check the quality of our work before we deploy it. He expects these things to be evident now.
Reading through an entire paragraph of fluff, only to find out that you're not sure when exactly you're going to be finished is a lot more annoying than just telling him that directly in once sentence.
And if the customer isn't a professional, you, as a developer, shouldn't be dealing with him directly in the first place because that's too much of a distraction from your actual work. Your boss should then hire someone who can assist you with these matters.
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0bx wrote: When a customer sends a mail with a few simple questions, he expects you to return simple answers. He doesn't need to hear anymore how much we care about security and how carefully we check the quality of our work before we deploy it. He expects these things to be evident now.
That may be true if you deal with only one or two individuals, but that isn't guaranteed, and each individual needs to be cared for and nurtured.
0bx wrote: Reading through an entire paragraph of fluff, only to find out that you're not sure when exactly you're going to be finished is a lot more annoying than just telling him that directly in once sentence.
It may be so for you, but it is a fact that differently worded replies giving exactly the same news can have drastically different effects on the recipient.
"Mrs. Jones? Your cat is dead."
vs
"Mrs. Jones? I'm awfully sorry to call with bad news, but despite the vet working late into the night, we failed to save poor Pudsy".
0bx wrote: And if the customer isn't a professional, you, as a developer, shouldn't be dealing with him directly in the first place because that's too much of a distraction from your actual work. Your boss should then hire someone who can assist you with these matters.
If only the world was as black and white as you paint it. Without knowing the OP's company, or profession, exactly, they may well be the single technical resource required to do support and development and coffee making. Saying a company should employ someone to deal with 'these matters' is just naive in extremis.
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_Maxxx_ wrote: Saying a company should employ someone to deal with 'these matters' is just naive in extremis.
Off course, it's my opinion of how it 'should' be; how it is in reality is a different matter.
However, this article is based on fairly serious research and tries to give you an estimate how much money is lost by overloading developers with additional responsibilities: http://blog.ninlabs.com/2013/01/programmer-interrupted/[^].
Turns out that it's also pretty naive to expect from a programmer that he can do both programming and play customer support at the same time. You might actually save money if you hire an extra project manager / consultant who doesn't do any coding, but focuses on attending to the customers so everybody else can focus on the programming.
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this is pretty much how I think/feel about it.
If it moves, compile it
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loctrice wrote: putting them off so you can do something else.
Isn't that exactly what you're supposed to do? Answer the question and then get back to coding. If the boss believes in sugarcoating communication with clients, he should place a buffer between the developer and the client, i.e. you give your boss the short answer and then get back to coding while he figures out how to sugarcoat.
Also, I find that I (and I suspect this is true for many programmers) take significantly longer than most people to write an email if it needs to contain any sort of fluff. This makes it doubly bad to let the developer directly answer the client: you waste development time on an answer that your boss and the client is unhappy about anyway.
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I can agree there. It takes me a good deal of time to write an email to a client just because I"m careful about the phrasing of things.
If it moves, compile it
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loctrice wrote: I'll reply on your behalf in case he is still stewing about your email
There is possibly another side to this, and there's a lot that we don't know here, so this could well be way off the mark, but when I read the boss part here, it sounds to me like the client has been on to him and complained. Looking at this from the clients point of view, they could be reading the second paragraph as - "oh, it'll fix itself in its own time".
It's not necessarily that you did anything wrong, and you shouldn't take it that way, but with a lot of these situations, there are egos at the other end who need handling in certain ways. Quite often, a bit of soft soap and flannel is all they need to feel as though they are the most important thing in your world.
One way to word this could have been (off the top of my head):
"You are absolutely right that feature X has disappeared. Unfortunately, this is an unavoidable side effect when we lose the connection to the server; we are looking at ways to prevent this from happening, and will schedule this into our roadmap as we appreciate that this presents a less than ideal experience for yourself."
If I were a particulary fragile ego, the first paragraph could be read as an implied criticism as well (mind you, I'd have to be really fragile to construe it that way). The reason they could misconstrue it is because there's almost a silent "well duh! we can't deliver the upgraded parts that we're still working on."
As always, communications with a client have to really be viewed and reviewed before you send them. In a lot of cases, there's a personal connection between a manager and the client that gives them an insight into how best to talk to them.
One thing I will ask - is there a reason that you didn't phone the client first? I always find that the personal touch helps to make a client feel that they are really valued. This is why I keep notes on all my clients of trivia like their favourite sports, teams, wife and kids names, etc. A minute or so of personal interaction makes it look like you really care.
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You make good points, and well said.
Pete O'Hanlon wrote: is there a reason that you didn't phone the client first?
I've only ever phoned a client when their server was down and I sent them an email with what I needed to get it up and going. After a while with no reply, because it was a service issue (and the boss told me to since there was no reply), I called.
I usually don't even talk to the clients in email. Most of the time the boss does that himself.
If it moves, compile it
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Pete O'Hanlon wrote: This is why I keep notes on all my clients of trivia like their favourite sports, teams, wife and kids names,
My BIL (real estate) used to do that as well. He stopped it when one of his customer accused him of having records about everyone, just after my BIL wished him a happy birthday.
~RaGE();
I think words like 'destiny' are a way of trying to find order where none exists. - Christian Graus
Do not feed the troll ! - Common proverb
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There's an art to it definitely, and you have to keep it subtle. So, saying something like "How's Anne doing? Last time we spoke you said she was worried about an upcoming operation." makes a big difference.
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Good approach. I would buy something from you. Several times.
--
Harvey
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...I've been down with Kung Flu
Why can't I be applicable like John? - Me, April 2011
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Beidh ceol, caint agus craic againn - Seán Bán Breathnach
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Da mihi sis crustum Etruscum cum omnibus in eo!
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Just because a thing is new don’t mean that it’s better - Will Rogers, September 4, 1932
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Glad you didn't get kicked out 
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I was going to make a joke about sluts...
...but it was whoreable.
Why can't I be applicable like John? - Me, April 2011
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Beidh ceol, caint agus craic againn - Seán Bán Breathnach
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Da mihi sis crustum Etruscum cum omnibus in eo!
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Just because a thing is new don’t mean that it’s better - Will Rogers, September 4, 1932
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That's a whorendous joke.
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I'll get my coat... 
Why can't I be applicable like John? - Me, April 2011
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Beidh ceol, caint agus craic againn - Seán Bán Breathnach
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Da mihi sis crustum Etruscum cum omnibus in eo!
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Just because a thing is new don’t mean that it’s better - Will Rogers, September 4, 1932
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Let me ho you the door...
If you get an email telling you that you can catch Swine Flu from tinned pork then just delete it. It's Spam.
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Aw, Slut up! 
Why can't I be applicable like John? - Me, April 2011
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Beidh ceol, caint agus craic againn - Seán Bán Breathnach
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Da mihi sis crustum Etruscum cum omnibus in eo!
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Just because a thing is new don’t mean that it’s better - Will Rogers, September 4, 1932
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Every night I see the same people down at the casino. I'm beginning to think they have a gambling problem! 
------------------------------
Author of Primary ROleplaying SysTem
How do I take my coffee? Black as midnight on a moonless night.
War doesn't determine who's right. War determines who's left.
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For how much?
Why can't I be applicable like John? - Me, April 2011
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Beidh ceol, caint agus craic againn - Seán Bán Breathnach
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Da mihi sis crustum Etruscum cum omnibus in eo!
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Just because a thing is new don’t mean that it’s better - Will Rogers, September 4, 1932
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