That time your teenage idol hired you to manage their show, then makes you learn not to meet your heroes the hard way (with James Hush)

In our 19th take at Client Horror Stories, we have James Hush with a story very different to anything else we’ve heard: for the first time in Client Horror Stories, we have the story of a client with nothing to do with the tech world, and we definitely loved it. Not only today’s guest comes from the music industry, but he also has an awesome ability to link bands and shows management to handling a traditional enterprise and its clients. And also, he was happy to share with us many clips from his teenage band. 

Today’s tale brings us back to when James was a college kid with rockstar dreams, and was taken under the wing of a show manager who taught him everything he knew. So when he was experienced enough, the best thing that ever could have happened happened: he was hired to plan and manage the event of his most admired label in the world. However, if everything was so great, he would not be telling his story here, would he? 

James’s tale is as exciting as it is worth listening to, and it leaves us not only with some pretty cool Beatles and Aerosmith’s anecdotes, but also a lot of valuable lessons on handling clients, no matter the industry you work in. So, as a general best practice in James language: don’t focus on just one project at a time, choose your door person, and, no matter what happens, write down the terms beforehand. Oh, and over anything else: that sometimes just showing up and doing what you are asked to makes a huge difference. 

About James: 

James has given teams the ability to ship features at 5 pm on a Friday in 15 minutes to millions of users. He believes any engineering team can deliver high quality features that customers love on time, without working late or opening a bottle of Advil.

Links: 

https://www.jameshush.com

James Hush

Morgan Friedman