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Beware the client who always changes the

requirements... :)

Think there is a method of discovering such clients ahead of time? My experience so far has been that people with vague ideas of what they want are the worse. They don't know what they want, so you try to build what they describe

This is the totally wrong approach. It is the deisgner's job to extract from a client a clear picture of what it is they want. This means getting input from the people who will use the product. It maens asking questions, restating the answers, and developing a data map and interface requirements.

Exactly. Become the expert, and then implement what the customer wants (but cannot define clearly). Thereafter, scope creep is not the customer's fault, it is part of what you manage as the expert.

I know this all in principle; practice is a lot harder, because, essentially, it requires a geek to have the social skills to tell a customer what they want--with enough precision to keep them happy... which I am only just learning how to do.

-Jared.