Who is the Client?

Who is the Client?

I recently had a conversation with a systems engineer whose specialty was human to machine interface. He understood the machine from a systems position. Making the machine system function through the interface with the human operator was his passion.

Not being a system engineer or a systems interface designer, this got me thinking about the relationship involved. Who was being served in this situation? Was the machine being served by the creation of a functional interface with a human being? Or was the human being served by the functionality of the machine. What was the reason for the “user friendly interface?” Who was the client in this situation?

If you believe that machines cannot be served because they are inanimate objects, then you are stating that a machine is a non-functional object without a human to cause it to function. If this is the case, you might feel that the machine is being served by the operator. Without the operator, the machine is an intricate structure of interlocking parts, with material in and product out. It might be a causality system where something is generated at the command of the operator. Form One to Form Two is the relationship. A manipulation occurs that is productive of a second form more useful to the operator or at least desired in that moment. All these demand input of some kind. Input of materials and output of form. In each case the motivation to function depends on an external source—the operator. Material in, command or direction given, and function and product follow.

The machine serves the operator. Without the input of materials, and the command to function, the machine is non-productive and worthless. It is serving the operator through its function. The operator is the client.

Looking from another perspective makes the machine the client. The operator is serving it. The operator is supplying the materials to be manipulated. Without it, the machine just sits there. Nothing is produced. No form is altered. The machine essentially demands the service of the operator in order to function.

The machine demands the command to function. There must be a thinking entity at the controls. The machine demands to know when to operate, how to operate and what to produce. The machine demands the interface by its very existence. The machine is there to serve the operator, but without instruction, nothing happens. The machine becomes the client and is served by the operator.

There are some existential nuances to this line of thinking. On a basic level, this is how most machine to operators work. Man is the client to the machine and at the same time, the machine is the client to the man. It is an inter-dependent relationship.

Let’s transfer that thinking to human to human relationships.

You have a specialty or represent a product. If you do nothing, nothing happens. You are the machine. You have something to say, accomplish, provide, or sell. Just sitting there, you are not productive. You do not in and of yourself create much or change much in the world if you do nothing. You do not introduce much in the way of thought, problem solving, or in the provision of goods or services. You are like the idle machine. You need raw materials, in this scenario a product, knowledge or skill. You need some one or some situation to demand that the product, knowledge, or skill produces something. Someone must be at the controls, press start and, in that way, begin the process.

You are NOT the client in this scenario!

When approached by someone who needs your product, your knowledge, your skill, you spring into action.

They are the client.

Just like the machine, you know how to function when the buttons are pushed, and how to provide what is needed. Here is where the human factor sets you apart from the machine. You don’t need a button to be pushed to know what to produce, how to produce it or when to produce it. Your interface is NOT a series of buttons and levers or commands. It is the intuition, the “spidey sense” that makes you, as a machine, provide for the operator, who is actually your client.

How well you use this intuition can determine how successful you are at meeting the needs of your operator or your client.

So who are the clients? In the case of the machine, the operator is the client. In human to human interaction it is not so simple. Interaction can be generated by the operator or the machine. The client and the provider are integral to the interaction. Both can have their finger on the “START” button. Production is about reaching the desired outcome. Success depends on how well we “read” or “feel” the clients' need. Clearly this function is what will determine the success of the interface. The connection to the client determines how successful the interaction is, just as the interaction between the operator and the machine determines production.

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