But…I will say that before I started freelancing I worked for a consulting firm. And I ran into a couple of customers who were, quite frankly, nutty. For example, in one case the organization (a governmental agency) was so completely focused on butt-covering instead of accomplishing the objective that no one could ever make a final decision. The design was written and re-written and re-written ad nauseum, and no one would ever sign off because that meant a level of responsibility they were unwilling to make. (That project went through more than 3 consulting firms, millions of dollars, and never implemented the system. Yikes!)

But I think you are absolutely right that when there is a problem, it is more likely that the freelancer hasn’t done a good job walking their customer through the process.

Good post!