Your client doesn't understand scalable design. How do you educate them effectively?
Explaining scalable design to clients involves breaking down complex concepts into relatable terms. Here are some strategies to clarify this for them:
- Use analogies: Compare scalable design to building a house that can accommodate future expansions.
- Showcase examples: Present case studies where scalability led to successful growth.
- Visual aids: Use diagrams to illustrate how scalable design works in practice.
What methods have you found effective in educating clients about scalable design?
Your client doesn't understand scalable design. How do you educate them effectively?
Explaining scalable design to clients involves breaking down complex concepts into relatable terms. Here are some strategies to clarify this for them:
- Use analogies: Compare scalable design to building a house that can accommodate future expansions.
- Showcase examples: Present case studies where scalability led to successful growth.
- Visual aids: Use diagrams to illustrate how scalable design works in practice.
What methods have you found effective in educating clients about scalable design?
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Understanding scalable design is vital for clients. Here are key concepts: 1. Ability to Scale Up/Down: This means adjusting resources based on demand. For example, during busy bank hours, more tellers assist customers. Digital platforms can add servers to manage increased traffic and reduce them when demand subsides, optimizing costs. 2. Pull vs. Push:A pull system allows servers to take on work according to their capacity, preventing overload. In a bank, each teller serves one customer at a time, ensuring efficiency. 3. Load Balancing:The ability to distribute tasks evenly across resources or servers. Using the bank analogy, instead of overwhelming one teller, customers are spread out to prevent bottlenecks and ensure smooth service.
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The rule is simple. Don't kill your future now. That means in the context of scalability - avoid taking design/technology decisions that block you from up-scaling or down-scaling in the future. That does NOT MEAN you need a "scalable" infrastructure- only that you're free to HAVE ONE when you need it in the future. The other side of this: don't spend NOW on scalable solutions and infrastructure to the point it threatens your FUTURE. Last - try to wisely dedicate your future scalability needs. You can limit the scaling upfront by many obvious criteria. Do that upfront.
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Try to align with what the client understands most, perhaps it's a hobby, an interest or something that he understands very well.. like for example in a coffee shop setting if you get a lot of orders coming in on the front line, how are you able to fulfill the order on you backend line as well as ensuring customers pick up their finished orders in a timely manner. Do you need more people? Do you need more efficient people or do we need to streamline the process or a combination of all. Then relate it to their current problem and associate your solution to how it can be is addressed on your storyline.
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I think client should know When and Why scalable design is needed.Consider this situation: When you are drowning you need some thing to float on sea. When your income depends on more Customers you need to scale some how. if you could not scale you will be devoured. Our client Knows metrics therefore by demonstrating relation of scalability to income and customer lost or organic growth and... . they can decide on this matter.
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By 3 steps - 1. Telling a story of my client who is globally well known and preferably in same industry on how scalable design helped them to succeed. Will pick the one where I had architected scalability. 2. Making a visual representation on how it can be achieved in current context. 3. Showing the baby steps to start with, particularly addressing the concerns client has
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Kamal Dalal(edited)
I will tell them that it's like your lycra fabric. It will grow as you do, and it will still fit if your diet goals are achieved. A win-win.
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I love this analogy (not mine though): you are operating a restaurant: and as more costomers come in, you need more servers (waiters), and if more and more customers come you can add more tables, and when the customers leave, you can remove tables and waiters. Able to add or remove these resources is called scalability, how fast you can do this is called elasticity,
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Eu acredito que educar os clientes sobre Design Escalável é uma grande oportunidade para se posicionar como referência em tecnologia estratégica e inovação e gerar valor percebido aos clientes. Como muitos clientes "incluindo os meus" não tem familiaridade com o tema, eu procuro simplificar a comunicação e demonstrar valor de forma prática através de alguns pilares mínimos. 1. Traduzindo o conceito para o mundo do cliente 2. Criando conteúdos educativos 3. Demonstrações prática do uso através de cases de sucesso Como exemplo, apresento soluções desenvolvidas pelo nosso time que atendem grandes soluções de marketplace que estão presentes no mercado brasileiro e o impacto que o design escalável gerou dentro desses negócios.
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A recent fetishism of scalable design has led to the over use of microservices architecture that only added unnecessary complexity to many technology environments. Scalability is an important thing to consider but it needs to be done within the context of a realistic assessment of what is likely. Solve for the problems you have today, get your product in the hands of users, benefit from its availability and then invest in greater scalability once it looks like it might be needed. At the heart of any initiative is either a goal of making money or of saving money. Don't overengineer a solution because it will stop you from achieving either. Delivering a product that works into the hands of your users should be the main focus.
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If you can’t explain any technology to someone who doesn’t understand it, then certainly you’ve not mastered it well. Generally, clients care about business and if you’re able to tie the solution to a business problem, you’ll be able to articulate it well. Whatever engineering solution one proposes, at the end it should be driven by business.
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