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We are working on a CD for a large charity that is organising events all across the country.
The Setup: they want to update the one they did last year - one screen, eighteen buttons with links to PDFs for the event and a video. It has to be done in Flash and they MUST have it done in two weeks - 10 working days. More than enough time for a four hour job.
Day 0: They haven't provided any of the PDFs or the video, no problem, I can use placeholder files. They also haven't given us any artwork (we usually base the screen on existing posters, ads, etc.) Not a problem, I can whip up a skeleton and populate it later.
Day 3:At this point they send over their artwork, "just make it look like this"
Do up a screen with interactive map and send it over for approval
Day 5: They didn't like the screen we sent over, the one that looks almost exactly like all their existing material. So their guy did up one himself and sent it over. Fine, I'm not insulted but why didn't you just do that in the first place?
Day 7: Now they want it regionalised and have people click on a map to see what documents are available for their area. Okay, this will add a few hours (and 40 PDFs) but it's still doable within their timeline.
Day 8: They inform us that they need to have both French and English available. I mention that it will add a day to the project and we're already near the deadline. They still haven't sent the PDFs or video.
Day 10: Deadline day. Still no PDFs/video and they tell us that they don't have French for all regions. Up to now, the code has been pretty simple but now I have to start setting flags for language.
Day 12: They send a list of all the PDFs in French and English. No actual PDFs yet but it does help, I can input all the names for the buttons.
Day 14: They send SOME of the PDFs, none of which match any of the names I was given in the previous list. Back to inputting buttons.
Day 15: They send over some more PDFs. Great, except some of the documents are Word Template files. Five of which are assigned to one button. More coding, PDFs will open in a browser window, .doc files will not.
Day 18: They inform us that some regions don't have all PDFs, but not which ones. Take the morning to configure an array to tell the program which region has what files. Still don't have all necessary files.
Day 21: They send the rest of the files and a matrix of which regions have which files. I notice there is an extra file in some of the regions directories that doesn't appear on the matrix. After a few emails, I find out it's a new file (and new button) that they've just added in. That means I have to shift the layout and do a bit more coding. I should mention at this point that we're at about twenty hours.
Day 22: Finally get everything sorted and working and sent out for approval. This is a Friday so I have no idea what they're going to want to throw in come Monday.
I have done work for MANY charities over the years and they all suck. Their hearts are in the right place and they do an immense amount of good but they have NO freaking idea how things work or what they actually want.
The Setup: they want to update the one they did last year - one screen, eighteen buttons with links to PDFs for the event and a video. It has to be done in Flash and they MUST have it done in two weeks - 10 working days. More than enough time for a four hour job.
Day 0: They haven't provided any of the PDFs or the video, no problem, I can use placeholder files. They also haven't given us any artwork (we usually base the screen on existing posters, ads, etc.) Not a problem, I can whip up a skeleton and populate it later.
Day 3:At this point they send over their artwork, "just make it look like this"
Do up a screen with interactive map and send it over for approval
Day 5: They didn't like the screen we sent over, the one that looks almost exactly like all their existing material. So their guy did up one himself and sent it over. Fine, I'm not insulted but why didn't you just do that in the first place?
Day 7: Now they want it regionalised and have people click on a map to see what documents are available for their area. Okay, this will add a few hours (and 40 PDFs) but it's still doable within their timeline.
Day 8: They inform us that they need to have both French and English available. I mention that it will add a day to the project and we're already near the deadline. They still haven't sent the PDFs or video.
Day 10: Deadline day. Still no PDFs/video and they tell us that they don't have French for all regions. Up to now, the code has been pretty simple but now I have to start setting flags for language.
Day 12: They send a list of all the PDFs in French and English. No actual PDFs yet but it does help, I can input all the names for the buttons.
Day 14: They send SOME of the PDFs, none of which match any of the names I was given in the previous list. Back to inputting buttons.
Day 15: They send over some more PDFs. Great, except some of the documents are Word Template files. Five of which are assigned to one button. More coding, PDFs will open in a browser window, .doc files will not.
Day 18: They inform us that some regions don't have all PDFs, but not which ones. Take the morning to configure an array to tell the program which region has what files. Still don't have all necessary files.
Day 21: They send the rest of the files and a matrix of which regions have which files. I notice there is an extra file in some of the regions directories that doesn't appear on the matrix. After a few emails, I find out it's a new file (and new button) that they've just added in. That means I have to shift the layout and do a bit more coding. I should mention at this point that we're at about twenty hours.
Day 22: Finally get everything sorted and working and sent out for approval. This is a Friday so I have no idea what they're going to want to throw in come Monday.
I have done work for MANY charities over the years and they all suck. Their hearts are in the right place and they do an immense amount of good but they have NO freaking idea how things work or what they actually want.
)...when I was leader of that group, I did get behind in a lot of things myself and had people breathing down my neck...but in all fairness I shouldn't have had the workload I had to begin with. Also, I'd given one of the people who was helping us out (on her own - she wasn't even an official group member and she lives in another state, she started out helping our previous leader who died in 2008) a chance to back out since we were driving her nuts with our slowness, but she kept insisting on doing the work...and then reminding me how she likes to do all her stuff on a schedule 
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