Are you the client or the owner?

Every piece of work has a Client and an Owner: the Owner does the work, the Client approves it. In a project with multiple stages or workflows each step has a Client and an Owner so you will get to be both in turn - and succcess relies on both working together to meet each other's goals.

Both Clients and Owners have responsibilities:

- The Owner must find out who the Client is, find out what they want and clarify any ambiguity, and show it to them often.

- The Client must verbalise what they want in a way that can be used by the Owner, and must ask to see work-in-progress regularly.

If a delivery isn't approved by the Client, both the Client and the Owner are accountable, one isn't more to blame than the other. It is a dual responsibility to ensure that the work being done is the work that is needed so that the delivery (and approval) is only a formality.