Every once in a while, we finish something we think is awesome. Shiny. Spectacular. Perfect in every way. A tiny little flawless newborn code-baby, clearly demanding your adoration and unbounded love.

And then the client doesn’t like it. “Take that head off,” they say. “Paste it to the stomach, and then put both arms on the same side.” “Can we make it more monochrome? And there’s no reason for five toes on each foot, we only need seven toes, total.”

Agency work can be tough, sometimes. We want to be proud of our work, we want to build awesome things. And sometimes, we have to build what we think are monsters.

That’s okay though. Opinions are like, uhm, belly buttons. Everyone has one. And clients are always going to have their own. They are entitled. It’s their money and time and product, after all.

I do believe we have the obligation to advise when we see clients turning down the road to creating monster babies. We may have expertise, and I believe we have the responsibility to advise and inform. But ultimately, though we are building this thing, it is not ours. It is theirs. It is their right to not agree with us.

Perhaps we can take pride, instead, in our process. In the ability to build a great *anything.* To make happy clients. To enjoy the opportunity to shape a product, even if we are not the final decision makers. To enjoy and welcome the diversity of opinion.

…even if we do think that’s the ugliest baby we’ve ever produced.