Four techniques for saying "No" without your client knowing it:
1. Tell them how much something will cost. "Great idea! A live chat widget will cost another $20,000. What do you think?"
2. Make them prioritize. Pick things that you know are more important. "How should we prioritize that change compared to paid subscriptions and the Help system?"
3. Make them remember. Put it on the backlog and don't start it until they ask for it again.
4. Offer them alternatives. We once had a client who wanted native Excel exports of reports. We suggested either CSV exports or HTML table exports, which Excel can read.
(This is more "no" to features than to design decisions, but the principal is similar.)
Absolutely!! The answer is always yes, sometimes qualified. The only no is when you decide you don't want them as a client and you find a reason to not do further work.
1. Tell them how much something will cost. "Great idea! A live chat widget will cost another $20,000. What do you think?"
2. Make them prioritize. Pick things that you know are more important. "How should we prioritize that change compared to paid subscriptions and the Help system?"
3. Make them remember. Put it on the backlog and don't start it until they ask for it again.
4. Offer them alternatives. We once had a client who wanted native Excel exports of reports. We suggested either CSV exports or HTML table exports, which Excel can read.
(This is more "no" to features than to design decisions, but the principal is similar.)