inputs/outputs

I have a friend who has a friend who entered the treehouse industry this summer, and got a really great contract for a client in California. This person put a lot of energy into planning for these treehouses, working out the costs and the time needed to build a really sweet treehouse (complete with plumbing!) for the client.

The hard lesson came when he returned to college, only to find that a rare storm had hit LA, flooding the treehouses, which were made of material which couldn’t keep the water out.

The way I see it, this person had two options. In one scenario, he could have done extensive testing on the tree, throwing things at it to break it, and then fixing it until it didn’t break anymore. The other option would have been to spend time doing technical support and being on-call for the client, fixing it as it issues appeared. The problem lies in deciding how to split up your energy/time.

One on hand, extensive testing will probably make the system strong, but it will inevitably break anyway, and you’ll have to provide support either way. Do you spend more time testing before releasing an Alpha? Or do you release a Beta and hope that you can provide the support that the client demands when the nails start to fall out?

The obvious answer is to do the best job you can testing within your budget until you’re ready for a release, keeping in mind that you’ll probably have to provide support anyway. Especially if it’s your first system.

The moral of this story: it’s not as easy as mass production. There’s no factory, no conveyor belts, no variables that are easily controlled. If you’re selling a highly customized product, and you’re dedicated to the client, you can never build something and expect to walk away. The thing that brings it down may be something completely unexpected (freak storms like this one are apparently rare for LA), or it may just be an environmental change (Krispy Kreme tanks when health fad takes off). The fact is, post-implementation support for a highly customized system is never ending. It’s the very nature of the beast.

To his credit, the entrepreneur did fly back to LA to correct the problem. And I bet that the next treehouse he builds will have materials that are water/snow/wind/sleet/bullet proof. And chances are, there will still be unforeseen problems. But if you can manage to be there for your client even after the implementation, then it’s still a job well done.