A local landscaper came by last week offering to trim trees at our house. We agreed to have a variety of trees trimmed, which the landscaper priced by the tree, and included the trash removal (i.e. no charge item). As it turned out, we had to drop one of the trees to be trimmed - a neighbor’s which he preferred to do otherwise with. The landscaper accepted the change this morning, dropping it from the work, but when presenting the bill had increased the price by $75 for the trash removal, which he had included previously.

We changed the scope, he accepted it but I suspect knowing the price increase was coming, which we found out about at the end of the job. Who was right? We expected the vendor to deliver what he promised (these items at these prices) and he expected to make his money (this much for the job). By not presenting a new price before the work started he turned what otherwise would have been a very happy customer into a negative outcome and no or negative reference. Mismatched expectations…

Set, maintain, manage and deliver to a clear set of expectations - they don’t have to be point-level tasks and you don’t have to charge by the task or T&M to ensure satisfaction, but if the work changes and so will your price - be up front about it and put the customer in the driver’s seat.

The moral of the story… when you’re working with customers, they typically want to know what they get from you, how much of it and what it costs - however articulated. If you’re pricing by the job, both parties should expect to exchange value on the results… if the customer wants to change the scope and you don’t like it, be up front and discuss any impacts - you don’t have to accept the change, but you also shouldn’t expect to creep your fees any more than you’d expect to let the customer creep (or in this case, shrink) the scope.

This vendor won the battle and lost the war… Its a shame to do good quality work but leave the customer unhappy because you either didn’t want to have the conversation, or worse because you are trying to “sneak it in”. Manage those expectations…

I’m not much of a sports fan, but I do love HDTV, and what’s HD at the moment is Olympics coverage. Did watch a couple of snowboardcross races this evening, including two of Lindsey Jacobellis’. I was digging it - having seen some of the media coverage of her Olympic trek, and thinking what a pretty, articulate and confident 20 year old Olympian would do for her sport… and then it happened.

My first reaction was the same as most, I suppose… “why”? And in the moments following the fall, I realized that the post-incident, and not the incident itself, would likely be the defining moment in this young athlete’s life. I was nervous as she was immediately interviewed, and she waffled - understandable, given the magnitude. She seemed a bit overwhelmed - and who wouldn’t be? But what would her story be? Didn’t look real promising at the outset…

And then it happened. In an interview with Bob Costas, this poised, articulate and acutely disappointed athlete did it…

She took responsibility. Amazing.

If a big lead and rocking your way to a gold medal causes your concentration to break, and to rotate those extra 20 degrees on your Method, that’s inexperience, being 20, being distracted. Owning up to it, even in stages - THAT’s a sign of maturity beyond her years, and the ability to learn from the mistake and move on to the next mistake a sign of leadership.

Lindsey - here’s some advice. Keep making mistakes. Don’t go out of your way to make them, don’t make the same one(s) over and over, but keep taking chances, keep slugging away at it, keep learning and doing. You’re not the only person in or out of your sport who’s going to screw up, whether its bad judgement, bad execution, a momentary lapse in focus… but if you keep playing the game you’ll have a chance to learn from mistakes, and then - just like this time - you’ll have an opportunity to deny them, hide them, pass them off on others - or take responsibility, do what you can to avoid the same outcome in the future and move on.

Good on you, is what I say, and proudly wear that Silver medal. Like many things you’ll achieve in life, there will be others who wish you’d done it differently, or not done it at all, but you’ll notice most of those folks will criticize you from the comfort of their recliners, and not on the hill.

Lindsey Jacobellis, Olympic Medalist. You go girl!

Found a great new blog called “Fire Someone Today” a couple of weeks ago, thanks to Scoble, who posted on it here. One exerpt I really enjoyed from the author

Sorry, I meant

A year or so ago when I started blahgKarma I wasn