Setting expectations

It’s a terrible thing for an outstanding job to be met by a skeptical or disappointed client.  Time devoted to managing client expectations before job completion can help avoid this fate.
I often turn to this real world example to remind me what expert expectation management looks like.  Maybe it can help you, too.


I watched anxiously as the repair technician took apart my laptop.  This machine, splayed across the dining room table, represented a hefty investment and was my main tool for work. 
Imagining that it was probably unpleasant to be watched so closely, I excused myself to the kitchen to grab a glass of water.  When I returned to offer him something to drink, he was already done!  Everything, every tiny little piece was put back together.
Before handing my laptop over, the technician pointed to a plastic bin filled with a variety of tiny little screws.

“I have every size of screw I could ever need in here.”

He then went on to explain that when he was reassembling my laptop, one of the original screws was nowhere to be found.  He replaced it with one of his own, from his plastic bin.

“Good as new.  I just wanted to tell you so that when that screw turns up, you’ll know that there’s not a screw missing in your laptop.”

Isn’t that brilliant?  I’m pretty sure I would have been suspicious of the quality of his work had I found that missing screw without any word about it from him.  My confidence would have been shaken enough that a response of “Don’t worry about it, I replaced it with one of my own” would not have eased my concern.
This is only one aspect of expectation management, but it had a huge impact on my experience as a client.  Because of this encounter, I am even more careful to manage my projects in such a way that my clients are not likely to run into an issue without knowing about it first.  I hope the same is now true for you.


(note, this post was originally published on 3/10/2010.)

What you look at can keep you from seeing

I took this picture of a baby squirrel hanging out outside the window of a hospital cafeteria. 

It wasn’t until later, after I downloaded the images off of my camera, that I noticed the reflection of my handbag super-imposed over the cute little ball of fur.

Although I had been so focused on the squirrel that he was all I noticed when I took the snapshot, it’s possible, if I were to hand this photo to someone without an explanation, they might focus on the red, white, and blue pattern.

What the handbag is to the squirrel, examples or presentation data can be to the concept you are trying to get across to an audience.

Weighing the cost

In today’s consumption-focused society, we are conditioned to look for bargains.  Before jumping headlong into a “great deal”, you must first understand the full implication of saving in one way when there is a chance you may be making up for it in another.

There are at least two major types of cost swapping that you should consider to avoid paying more than what you bargained for.

One for the other 

There are many different types of costs.  To name a few, there are costs to your wallet, costs to the environment, costs to your  quality of life, costs to your reputation, and costs to your time.  Often, the lowering of one cost will be accompanied by the increase of at least one other cost.  For example, DIY furniture impacts your wallet less, but can be a drain on your time.

When making a purchase, preparing to sign a contract, or selecting a particular path to take in a project, make sure to consider all the costs that are important to you.  Also, recognize that a cost you may not care about could ultimately impact one that you do.  (e.g.  Perhaps costs to the environment don’t bother you so much, but the impact this fact could have on your reputation does.) 

Now versus later

How many advertisements hype how little you have to pay up front?  Zero down!  No initiation fee!  Gack.  The housing bubble, in part at least, is indicative of how bad things can get when folks cannot see tomorrow’s cost over today’s.

No matter how good today’s cost looks, take the time to consider all the associated future costs and incorporate that information into your overall decision.  Here is an example of future costs associated with a car purchase:

• Maintenance costs
• How regularly does this type of car tend to break down? 
• How costly are the replacement parts? 
• Does the local mechanic know how to service this type of car?  (Will I have to take time off of work in order to get my car repaired?)
• Fuel costs
• What type of fuel does the car use and how expensive is it? 
• How efficient is the car?  (How much will it cost to keep the car full of gas?)
• Insurance costs
• How much more does my insurance provider charge to insure this type of vehicle?

With practice, asking these types of questions will come more naturally.  Start today for less costly tomorrow.

 

Good luck!

Nailing customer requirements

If you want to do your client justice, approach gathering customer requirements as a full contact sport. Your job is to tackle initial proposed solutions with "why" after "why" until you clearly understand what your client is ultimately trying to accomplish.

Each layer of "why" you peel away will create an additional layer of flexibility for designing the appropriate solution.

Here is an example I refer to as "build me a ladder" that demonstrates the point: 

Build me a ladder

If a customer asks you to build them a ladder, ask them what they need the ladder for.  If it turns out they need a ladder because they need something to sell in their ladder store, then you know that your solution has the constraint of "it must be a ladder". 

However, if it turns the ladder is needed because there is a shelf the client wants access to, you have another level of options you can work with.

I need to reach that high shelf

Once you understand that your customer needs to reach a certain shelf, ask them why they need to reach that shelf.  If it turns out they are entering a shelf reaching contest, then you know that your solution has the constraint of "it must enable the client to reach that high shelf".  Among a number of things, you can suggest a stepping stool, stilts, a trampoline, or super-high high heels. 

However, if it turns out that reaching the shelf is needed to access a specific book, you have another level of options you can work with.

 

Get me that book

Once you understand that your customer needs access to a specific book, ask them why they need that book.  If it turns out the book is due at the library, then you know that your solution has the constraint of accessing that particular book.  Among a number of things, you can suggest putting the book on a shelf the client can reach without assistance or hiring a tall assistant. 

However, if it turns out that they need to be able to read a specific passage in the book, you have another level of options you can work with.

 

This peeling away can go on for some time.  As you dig further down, more options will become available for designing the optimal solution for your client. 

Follow-up email

Communication mishaps can throw kinks into any endeavor.  Luckily, one of the most effective tools for heading off communication mishaps before they have the opportunity to wreak havoc on your project is simple and easy to implement: follow-up email.

If you haven’t yet incorporated this into your daily practice and you’re already running a bit ragged, this may seem like annoying extra work.  In my experience, the benefits have almost always far outweighed the burden.  Here’s why I recommend it:

• Self check
  There are times, when I’m putting together a follow-up email, that I notice something  is off.  For example, I may suddenly remember that the Fred who volunteered to take over and finish a mission critical task by next week is the same Fred whose wife is due any moment. 
  
  The exercise of summarizing your expectations or understanding often helps shift your perspective enough to highlight details of a conversation or meeting that may otherwise go unnoticed.
  
  
• Commitment check 
  Some people make commitments lightly, some make them without first consulting their calendar, and others may make them without considering the ramifications.  Whatever the reason, sometimes people need the opportunity to review the commitments they have made, in writing.
  
  The follow-up also helps make it clear that you are taking the commitments made seriously and expect follow through.
  
  
• Communication check  
  There are all sorts of ways for miscommunication to rear its ugly head.   A follow-up provides a baseline through which your colleagues can verify that their understanding of the conversation is in line with yours.
  
  I end each follow-up with a statement requesting feedback and a going once, going twice clause.  For example:
  
  
  Please let me know if I have misunderstood or misstated anything.  If I don’t hear from you, I will assume we are on the same page.
  
  
• Shared record
  Sadly, it’s a rare project manager who has never heard “I never agreed to that” or “No one ever told me” in response to a progress check.  A shared record is an invaluable tool for avoiding this circumstance altogether or addressing it in the cases that it does occur.
  
  It also serves as a tool for easily recreating conversations or additional context if the need ever arises.

Let me know if this helps.

http://www.whoelsa.com

Contest Announcement – PM Consultation

 

There is nothing yet to report!  Although a number of readers have contacted me privately to announce their intention of entering, no official entries have made their way to this blog.

The details of the contest are on last week’s Managed Mondays post.  In summary, if you are interested in winning a free project management consultation with me, post a comment to last week’s post describing the project you have in mind.

 

 

 

http://www.whoelsa.com

A step toward what you want

Turn your Manic Mondays into Managed Mondays. Every Monday this September, I will pull something out of my bag of tricks and share it with you. I'm an experienced project manager (PMI certified to boot), which means you'll get solid advice that you can put to use immediately -- in your workplace and your personal life.

If there's anything you want to get accomplished that requires more than one task, you have a project on your hands. It doesn't matter if you are a student, a job seeker, a C-level professional, or a part-time witch doctor -- many of these tips, tools, and exercises will be applicable.

Today's topics:

1. Ranking the projects on your organization's (or your own) plate
2. Win a free PM consultation
   

http://www.whoelsa.com

Project Management Contest #1

Win a dose of personal project management! The winner of this contest will get free consultation with me. At the end of this engagement, the winner will walk away with a Project Charter, a Project Plan broken down into measurable milestones, and a Risk Mitigation Plan. As part of the consultation, we will review resources available to you for moving your project forward.

How to enter: In a comment to this post, describe a project you are itching to complete or get off the ground. It must be clear that this is a project you have put thought into and that you have personal ownership for.

How the winner will be selected: The Monday after this post has received at least 10 genuine contest entries, I will select an entrant at random.

Extra, extra! Speed this contest along by pointing friends or colleagues to this blog post. You will earn an extra contest "entry" for each genuine comment that refers to you by name.

 

Good Luck!

Ranking Projects

Rank your projects even if you have all the resources needed to pursue every project on your proposed to-do list concurrently. This establishes project priority, but more importantly it provides insight for identifying how well projects move you toward the goals that have been set for your portfolio, your organization, or your life. Wouldn't it be a shame to pour time and effort into a project you shouldn't even bother undertaking?

Below I have outlined one of the many ways to approach this task.

1. Establish big picture success criteria.
   Success criteria at the big picture level provides a mechanism for assessing how well a project will move the organization or individual toward their overall goals and objectives.
   
   
2. Weight the criteria.
   Order your success criteria, listing them from most important to least important or grouping them into a set of different importance categories (e.g. high, medium, and low).
   
   Designate a numerical value for each rank. The most important should have the highest value and the least important should have the lowest value.
   
   
3. Test the criteria.
   Create a list of five to six fake projects with which to test your ranking tool. Don't pick something convoluted; These projects should be simple enough that how they would rank within your organization or life is intuitively obvious.
   
   Take each project and indicate how well it will meet the big picture success criteria. You can use any scale you like, as long as you're consistent across projects. (I typically like to use a scale of 0 - 5.) Score each project by taking the sum of how well it meets each success criteria multiplied by the criterion's corresponding weight. See below for an example:
   
   
   If the projects, arranged by score, fall into the expected rank, you are all set. If not, you may need to make some adjustments to the success criteria weight, to the success criteria themselves, or in some cases to the overall goals and objectives.
   
   When making these adjustments, be careful not to "fudge" data to make things fall into place. Take the opportunity to think through what's important and why.
   
   
4. Score each project on your proposed to-do list.
   Once you're confident that your ranking tool is ready, apply it to the list of projects on your proposed to-do list. You may be surprised by what rises to the top of the list and what falls off the bottom...