TNT: The Customer is NOT Always Right

[Jim Coyne]

Part of the Tips 'N Tricks" series.

I'll let you in on a little secret - the customer is NOT always right.  I know, I'm just repeating what I said in the title of the post, but it's an important point.

The most important question in the ServiceNow world, I think, is NOT "can it be done?", but rather "should it be done?".

I always tell my clients "with ServiceNow, the short answer is usually 'yes', BUT let's think about that for a minute".  Some requirements are no brainers and can easily be done.  Others take a bit more work.  But, what are the repercussions?  Are you going to create something that goes against good practice?  Going to break in future upgrades?  Do your clients want something "just like that thing there"?  Sometimes those "things" are just not possible without some hacking and slashing, which really should not be done.  We have access to most "things" in ServiceNow, but some are custom we just don't have access to and cannot easily reproduce, and so probably shouldn't.  There are always other ways to do things.

And remember, your clients shouldn't be dictating how they want things done.  I can remember one client quite a few years ago would come to me with requirements for a Business Rule, a Script Include or a Client Script to do a certain thing.  No, let me know what the end goal is, the real business requirement, and I will figure out the best way to accomplish that.

The client knows his/her own business and you know ServiceNow (or should).  You are the experts in your own domains.  Let them come to you with real business requirements and you let them know the possibilities, and more importantly, tell them why certain things cannot or should not be done.  Trust me, the truth is more important than fulfilling a bad requirement.

Don't be afraid to say "no".  We are the experts, or at least, we are supposed to be.  And experts should say "no" when appropriate.