[brw12]

From my own 4 years' experience, I echo what zenpaul said, and would add:

* Understand who your client is, and stop and check in if they change. I once had a manager at a client company change mid-project, and the politics (and sense of trust) completely reversed -- in retrospect, I should have insisted that we start the relationship over, clarify expectations, etc.

* It's not always a good idea to agree to disagree. I estimated one sub-project would take 3 weeks, and a client insisted it should take more like one; we decided to proceed, it took 3 weeks, and the client was unhappy. Looking back, I think we should have more seriously considered dropping the project if we couldn't agree on expectations. This can be proposed gently and respectfully: if you don't think that plan is worth it, I'm happy to do my best to help you find someone else.