Must be a definition of the term with which I’m unfamiliar…

Nutshell: Blogger hires a designer. Designer creates new design. Blogger installs design, lauds designer. Designer Two does a “remix” and sends to blogger. Blogger likes some facets, announces he will “steal” them. Designer One announces on her blog she is resigning over this. She is lauded in the comments for her class and professionalism. Blogger finds out designer is resigning by reading her blog.

I’m not going to hold up anyone’s behavior here as exemplary, but I really have to take issue with the “class and professionalism” comments. Since when is it either classy or professional to resign without directly facing the person (even via email) and telling them? Since when is it either classy or professional to play to the gallery and not the client? OK, so she was offended and resigned over it. Everyone has their own tolerance thresholds, I’m certainly not going to criticise her for hers. But to be professional about it would require talking to the client first (AFAICT, she didn’t talk to the client directly about this at all) and to be classy would be to quietly walk away, without publicly pointing fingers. Everyone who mattered would know why, anyway, and the story could be filed away and told later (anonymized) as a “case study in how to lose a designer.”

Was the resignation justified? That’s her call and I won’t second-guess her on it. But classy and professional? Get real.

OK, so I shouldn’t open my mouth about this without saying what I’d do and giving you a chance to tell me how wrong I am. So here’s my behavior (I will, for the purposes of the examples, assume my tolerance thresholds are about where it seems those of the actual players in this drama are):

as Blogger (Privately to designer one): Can we revisit a couple of items in the design? I’ve seen some ideas I think are pretty good and I’d like to talk to you about how easy it might be to implement some of them.

as Designer One (privately to Blogger): I think that public post you made about the new design was unfair to me. I thought I was giving you what you wanted; until that post you hadn’t said a word to me about things you didn’t like. If you had a problem with it or with me, you should have told me and we could have fixed it. Now you’re publicly slamming me over a design you already approved. Since you like that other design so much, you should hire that designer. I’ll resign and let you get on with hiring him.

as Designer Two: I’d keep my mouth shut. When I was young and naive, I thought doing remixes on spec was a good way to find new clients. Problem is, most of the time the client approved, and sometimes even mandated, the design that I was “improving.” The unrequested remix steps on so many toes that it almost never ends up happily. I don’t do that anymore, except as a private exercise for my own gratification or as a learning experience, and even then I never “cold call” the original’s owner with it.

Note in all cases, I don’t go public. Going public is the worst thing a professional can do. Now everyone sees your behavior, and no matter how you handle it, some will be offended, and you will have lost potential clients. The Blogger loses potential designers, because they don’t want to be treated like Designer One was treated. Designer One loses clients, because they don’t know what other hot buttons they might inadvertantly step on, and don’t want to risk being treated like the Blogger was if they accidentally step on one. And Designer Two loses out because some potential clients and associates now see him as a backstabber. No one gains from such a public display, because anyone who likes what they saw was already a potential client/associate.