Craftsmanship is mastery …

This is the literal translation of an old Dutch saying stating “Vakmanschap is Meesterschap”, which means being a master in your profession.

After having read quite a lot of blogposts on Medium with regards to ‘Life Learning’, ‘Web Development’, ‘Start Ups’, etc., it got me thinking. This being my first post ever on Medium, I am asking you to bear with me.

It’s also my first post in English, so the grammar might be off sometimes, but I am convinced I will improve as my contributions will grow :)

Lately I’ve been forced to thoroughly think about the work we as a web development agency deliver. At this point we’re literally at a crossroad and are going to have to decide which path to choose.

We are an agency with more than 14 years experience in web development and like to think of ourselves as being an agency that actually delivers innovative work with added value.

I myself, for example, faithfully study EVERY DAY for at least one hour. 
I read my literature, regularly follow webinars and seminars and spend my share of time on Audible. The things I learn, I try to share as much as possible with employees and clients. I like to think of it in being a useful investment.

Our agency mainly focusses on creating websites, web shops, cloudbased applications and internet marketing. ‘Coding’ always plays an essential and central part in everything that we do and undertake.

More and more, however, I find that ‘our’ customers, as we feel it, are altogether thinking way to easy about the work we deliver. This resulting in us feeling attacked, misunderstood and unappreciated.. But do we have the right to feel this way? When I really think about it, I’m afraid we largely have ourselves to blame…

Questions and comments like ‘why does it have to take so long’, ‘how hard can it be,’ ‘why so expensive,’ ‘I don’t know, that’s your job’ we get more and more. I perceive that our customers can’t see our added value anymore.

There MUST be a reason why I, over and over again, get the same comments and reactions from various clients. After having read a lot (and by that I really mean a lot) posts on Medium, I started to understand that the problem lies with us. We never tell or told our clients how much work a certain activity took or how creative the work we delivered actually is. I myself am now convinced that it is our own proposition and communication that is off.

We call a certain task ‘easy’ when it, for example, will take us a full days of work. Multiply that day of work with our hourly rate and I honestly can understand the initial reaction some of our customers have. I, after all, haven’t pointed out clearly enough what is being asked and, more importantly, how we are going to solve this specific problem. In addition, I haven’t stated our added value enough. Just because of our extended knowledge we are able in doing the work within a certain timeframe. How can the client know if I did not communicate this properly? I can’t expect most of the clients in being on the same level as we are. If they were, most probably they wouldn’t need us. So, I need to make clear what we do/did and why we are going to solve in a certain way. If I am able in communicating it this way, I really think the hourly rate and total cost won’t be that big of a deal anymore. Now they know they are not merely paying for hours spent, they are also paying for our years of experience and extended knowledge.

My colleague managed to create a striking analogy to a carpenter and a mechanic. When you ask a carpenter to create a cabinet, he or she shall, if it is a good carpenter, ask you about the desired color, the size, number of shelves, etc. before he or she starts on the job asked. The carpenter makes you aware of the fact that you’re dealing with a specialist with years of experience. You, almost naturally, accept his questions and are forced to think with him. The carpenter might make the total price more affordable when he or she lets a student or a novice carpenter, under supervision, do some of the work. After all, you’re looking for something unique and accept the fact that this will never be near the price of something you buy at Ikea.

The same example goes for an auto mechanic. Auto mechanics, like web developers and carpenters, come in many forms and specialties. However, if you want your car serviced correctly, you go to your approved car dealer. This dealer, and therefore the mechanic, has the right set of tools and knowledge to maintain your car in a proper manner. There will be very few people who question the findings of the sincere and honest mechanic. After all, he or she has learned to do the job properly and effectively. And even when we possess the same skills as the mechanic, we still are more likely to choose the service offered, just because we ourselves don’t possess the right tools to do the job properly.

Also think about lawyers, notaries public and accountants for a minute. I often hear the complaint that they are way ‘too expensive’. Yet we pay their rates. Why do we do that? We do this because we know we’re dealing with highly skilled professionals. Professionals who had to study for years before being allowed to call themselves a lawyer, notary public or accountant. These specialists hugely invested in knowledge and still continue to do so. These people provide us with services and advices very few people can.

“Craftsmanship is mastery” was the term I was constantly thinking off. What if I told my clients to think of us as being the carpenters of the web, the auto mechanics of a website and the lawyer of your techniques and online properties?

Perhaps we should consider ourselves as being members of the ‘Web Guild’. We all go or went through the stages of being an apprentice (junior), journeyman (senior) or master craftsman (specialist). The master craftsman himself will always be an apprentice, because the more knowledge he obtains, the more he’s aware of the fact he knows soo little. He continuously needs to keep on learning and studying.

In the next few weeks I will try to work on this idea in further posts and hope you’ve read this blog with interest. Obviously I am very interested in your comments ..