Beware of the "just"

This post on the 37signals blog validates something I have been saying for years, and have recently been telling my students to watch out for: client requests that hinge on the word “just.”

As in: “Can you just make this webcam grab into a 16x20 print?” Or, “Can you just make our shopping cart work like Amazon.com?”

“Just” means, “I have no idea how this is actually going to be accomplished, but I would like it to be instantaneous.”

The “just” rule is a corollary of “a little knowledge is a dangerous thing.” Suggestions or requests involving the word “just” often have a frosting of technical detail, as if to suggest that the speaker’s casual attitude toward the effort required stems from an intimate understanding of the process.

In fact, when people express themselves in this way it’s generally because they don’t want to wait for (or pay for) the effort the task actually requires. They may not even be conscious of this fact. By tapping the task on the head with the magical “just,” they hope to see it shrink down to mouse-size in a flurry of fairy-sparkles.

We all do it. We all have our areas of expertise and our blind spots. But as a creative professional, if you learn to listen for the word “just” in your discussions with clients, you can catch unrealistic expectations early and save yourself and them a lot of frustration.