Ahh, every consultant’s duty: “Manage the relationship.” It sounds so cold, machinistic, impersonal, and even manipulative. Of course, thats what we have to do. Perception drives everything and in professional services, we sometimes have to do things that seem “stupid” or “funny” in order to send the right message or craft the right image of perception with our clients. The reason has to do with interpretation of action. People might interpret something that is completely legitimate and critical as unimportant or they may view something that is very difficult as being very easy. Clients also may not understand the impact and level of effort required for their needs or requests. The statement “We need it” is a painful ring that anyone tasked with requirements elicitation and analysis knows about.
I guess you could say it makes us dickheads for doing the things we do around “managing relationships” or “managing perception.” I especially like the coming to the client site early and leaving late even when there isn’t necessarily any extra work to be done (of course, usually there is!) just so the client thinks we’re working hard and long hours to deliver on time.