I read with interest a letter to the Straits Times forum page today. A Ms Maddy Lim Kah Hoe complained about sub-standard work from IT firms in building her websites. I can fully understand and appreciate the problems she faced. I’ve encountered similar sort of problems too, and it’s not just from IT firms, but also those in other trades.
The problems Ms Lim mentions aren’t unusual at all, and as I mentioned, it’s certainly not limited to the IT profession. What’s yet more interesting is that, having owned eight websites, which I presume is her way of saying she’s done this eight times, the way she’s complaining about it seems to suggest she hasn’t learnt anything. Maybe, as much as she wants to suggest that IT firms should be held to higher standards, she herself needs to set higher standards for herself.
The systems she paid IT firms to build did not live up to her expectations. Was there any gross negligence from the IT firms? If so, she should have been able to take appropriate remedy actions against them. It sounds like, to me, that Ms Lim simply failed to properly manage IT.
It may be so that some IT firms just want to make a quick buck, and don’t really care to produce quality professional work. The same can be said in numerous other trades too. For example, haven’t we heard many complaints about renovation contractors? They produce sub-standard work, their projects overrun time and budget, they sometimes just run away, or how in so many ways their results don’t live up to our expectations.
IT firms are certainly not alone. Sure, they are unregulated, unlike doctors and lawyers, but that doesn’t mean that we require a professional body to regulate everything. Do we need a professional body to regulate Bak Chor Mee sellers? I mean, after all, some of those Bak Chor Mee surely cannot make it.
Quoting from the letter:
Another common response from these firms is “feature is not in because you didn’t say you wanted it”.
But of course, if you didn’t ask for it, why would it be included? If you ordered Bak Chor Mee, would there be an expectation to have Hum included? (I know, the Bak Chor Mee Mai Hum joke is getting stale.)
If you are renovating your house for the first time, you’d definitely learn a few things about dealing with renovation contractors. This isn’t different working with IT firms to build your website. If one lesson isn’t enough, hopefully two, or three, will suffice to get you pretty well equipped to deal with such projects.
After your order of Bak Chor Mee has been screwed up a few times, surely you would have mastered the art of specifying your customisations. Otherwise, either give up eating Bak Chor Mee or accept your Bak Chor Mee as you get it.
IT is complicated. Sometimes the problem is as much with the customer as it is with the IT business. I’m reminded of this really funny video clip: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BKorP55Aqvg