My developers are not allowed to talk to the users about the problems to be resolved. All the communication goes thru a gatekeeper that may not know or understand what the issue to be solved is.
Two reasons have been suggested:
1) The users are intimidated by the developers - I am giving them lessons on how to talk to users and patience. This is going well.
2) The manager at the customers site wants to maintain control - This is what I am having trouble with.
Problems get resolved so much faster if we can talk to the users to determine if we are on the right page.
suggest a joint meeting
I would talk with the manager at the customer site and ask that one of your developers be included in meetings or calls with the users when there are problems to be discussed. In the first one, the developer should be mostly quiet and make extra effort to not be "too technical". Even if they don't say anything there is a huge advantage in just having them hear the response first hand. By only having one developer, the manager and users should not feel out numbered. It might help to explain that you have been coaching your developers and want a chance for them to prove they can interact positively with the users. Assuming the manager is wanting to protect the users and this is not just a power issue, they should see the benefits. The time savings alone will be worth making the effort.
good luck.