Ask Which of Five Parties “the Customer” Means
The Five Names
Companion to You Are Not the User · Updated 2026-09-29
Use this when anyone says “the customer” about a workflow and you need to know which of five different parties they mean. Worked in “Customer-Facing Teams Rarely See the People Who Use the Software.”
The Five Names for one workflow, with every user role on its own line.
| Name | Who it is here | What they decide or do | How we hear from them now |
|---|---|---|---|
| Buyer (signs the contract) | |||
| Customer (the organization that pays) | |||
| Administrator (configures and governs the product) | |||
| User, role 1 | |||
| User, role 2 | |||
| User, role 3 | |||
| Affected party (bears the consequences without touching the software) |
The last column is the one to read. If the buyer and administrator rows say “weekly calls” and every user row says “tickets” or “nothing,” the organization’s picture of this workflow comes from the people who don’t do it.