IT success is all about human connection.

Its about time someone didn’t write a blog about AI. In fact, I wanted to do the opposite, and write one about humans, humans connection and how to create a great relationship between a client and an agency. Also, just to clarify - this is not written by ChatGPT.

I have always believed that IT is a people business. Yes there is the technology, the platforms, the new buzz and of course the skills need to be there, but for me what makes IT tick, and actually what makes it fun - is the people, and putting the right people in the right place and those people having a connection to their clients.

When I started nuForm just under 3 years ago, part of the mission was that I wanted to have a truly customer first business.

Many agencies say this, but really they are revenue and growth first.

Everyone likes growth, and of course revenue is pretty important to any company, but what I noticed is that to create efficiencies companies would have a relatively boiler plate approach to how they composed their teams for a particular customer without really assessing if that model was right for the customer.

Assumptions would be made on a formula that worked, and that worked to suit the agency - not the customer. This for me is a schoolboy mistake.

Every customer is different. Their team make up is different, their experience is different, their desire for control in certain areas is different. This needs to be factored in when constructing a team to match your customer.

Additionally, I see it time and time again where agencies get on their Eiffel Tower and try and instruct a client on how the team needs to be constructed. That’s none-sense, really what an agency is saying is we want to work in this way regardless of how you are set up because it suits the agency.

I am not saying everyone gets it right first time, and there needs to be a level of flexibility, but I firmly believe that you need to understand, and almost audit your client on their beliefs, desires, opinions on team shape and characters before getting started, and then closely monitor this over time. Talk openly about what is important to them in team dynamics, team member characteristics, governance models etc.

Have an open discussion and be brave enough to talk directly.

We all know that certain character types blend well with certain other character types. For those who are interested in Myers Briggs and the other personality tests will understand this well.

For example if your client is extremely detail orientated, there is no point in having a PM who isn’t. If you have a client who wants responsiveness as a top priority, maybe don’t have someone in a lead role who is talented but laid back.

As well as having the right team construct, the right characters its also really important to have someone who is really connected to the clients business, and someone who can relay business matters to the agency side team.

I have seen it so many times where an agency feels its their job to do what they are told and execute on tasks rather than be invested in, and knowledgeable on their clients business.

The closer an entire team is to the commercial reality of their client, the better, as this makes them more invested, more in the context and creates more of an emotional connection to why they are doing what they are doing. If a developer for example is completely disconnected from their client - how are they going to understand the deadlines they are working to and why they are important? Whilst a PM can keep a team organised, I believe, to have a true connection between an agency and a client - the whole team needs to understand the reality as best as possible.