"Can you make it do this?" or "Why I might very well be the most valuable person at my company right now"

Going forward in this environment has really forced me to look at the clients I ultimately work for. I work in an agency environment, and a lot of times I work with Account Executives on behalf of a client. Over the years this has worked okay, but I've never been a huge fan of this work methodology because if the AE isn't paying very good attention to the needs of the client, programmers have an almost impossible task of hitting a moving target that they don't even know exists. This always leads to disappointment on the client side, and even worse, leads to strained relations between programming and sales. Sales thinks programming takes too long and costs too much and nothing works right when they DO deliver it, and programming thinks sales has their heads up their asses and never takes the time to understand exactly what the client wants.

But now, I think events have started to reshape the way everyone is working, for obvious reasons. I would liken this to the external environmental pressures that are the driving engine of evolution. Something outside is causing a change in the way business has to operate, and the ecosystem responds by weeding out those who can't change the way they work, or whose work is being done in a manner that simply won't survive.

Enter Interactive. The opportunity for us all now, is to provide *value* to the client. The days of clients just throwing money at Internet Marketing endeavors is over. Now, armed with the language of web 2.0 and ROI, they want their efforts to *do* something. To *result* in something. They want something *tangible* from us now.

This makes us (programmers) invaluable. And it means we have a place at the table now for discussions OUTSIDE of our comfort zone. No longer are we going to be relegated to the conversations about process, and execution. Now we're going to be asked to contribute *ideas* and participate in a dialog that helps the companies we work for bring far more value to the proposition than ever before.

I'm currently working on an Event Calendar for a client. Normally, we'd be satisfied with delivering what the client asks for, delivering it in a timely manner, and delivering it in good working order. However, this time we're going to raise the bar. This time, with programming's participation, we're going to deliver an event calendar that not only does what our client *wants* but exceeds their expectations. And not for any self serving reason. We're doing it because it demonstrates how the execution of programming and a little thought and planning can, for a minimal investment, bring tremendous value. In other words, "We can do that for you, but we think THIS will actually HELP your business a lot more with its marketing efforts.".

If you don't think for one minute that resonates with clients, you're either high, or you didn't comprehend what I just wrote.

Now think about that for a second. Programmers, participating in the value discussion, and bringing solid ideas to the table that can be executed on for the benefit of all involved.

Who wouldn't want to be on that bandwagon?

It's a great time to be a programmer.