I had an interesting Facebook message last night from a client who said he was missing us and that he had gotten used to having us around.   Sites related to projects that last a long time and are complex can become interesting places to try and leave.   You want to do a good job and you want the client to be happy but eventually he has to sink or swim on his own.   Through the years I have seen both extremes of this phenomenon.    I have seen clients trying to kick us out too fast and clients that wouldn’t let us go.   I once was involved in a state government project where the client literally chose to operate out of a closet we had set up with a temporary installation of their old gear rather than move into the new, spacious and scary facility we had spent a year building them.    I ultimately had to go on site to push them into the space and to extract our people away from their fear and lack of accountability.   

Now the client who wrote that note last night was not at remotely the extreme end of the spectrum as the state government folks I refer to.   I am thinking that we have to find a way to help our clients with their new technology adoption cycle and its inevitable pitfalls and traps.   Its not that we aren’t helping at all.  In fact I would argue we do better than most, and often to our own financial detriment.   Eventually though we have to go home.   

I wonder if there is a sufficient need out there to justify some level of post installation support, troubleshooting and documentation maintenance.   I wonder if we could provide it without making it a financial hole we have to dig out of.