I didn't realize that what happened was scope creep until I thought about it this week. A year ago, my primary customer added a military program to those it services.
My customer provides an enterprise-level supply chain management software to military contractors. So it's a big deal when a new program comes on board.
My role was to train the key people so that they could train their users. I also function as a product manager in that I am the primary point of contact for them. Anything that doesn't work, quesitons how it works, or suggestions for new features come to me first and I pass them on to the various departments of my customer.
This new program asked for a couple of new things. We did those. They were new, and I wanted to impress them.
Then there were a few more requests for new things. Their suggestions were pretty good and would be welcomed by the other existing programs that used the software.
But before long we were spending so much resources on creating the new things that we fell behind on bringing them up to speed so they could use our software.
The biggest thing I could have done differently would have been to up front not accept any suggestions for new features. The need to get the program up and running was far more important than considerations of new features. I was very driven to impress them, which was silly because they had already bought the software.
Gary,
ReplyDeleteThat is very interesting. It is amazing how we want to impress and prove ourselves to people and we forget the implications it may be having on our project. Sometimes do you think allowing scope creep is OK, especially if you are building rapport with potential future clients? Or do you feel you are setting a standard for future projects that scope creep will always be accepted?
There was something about this particular contract that impressed you that you won them. Hind sight is 20/20. It pays to ask ourselves why we are feeling a need to do something we don't usually do. That helps us address how we want to deal with it.
ReplyDeleteGary,
ReplyDeleteYour example reminds me of when I was a commercial producer. I shot, edited and even voiced many of the commercials for the Television station where I worked. Many times I would work with the client, and make changes or additions to the commercial that they wanted with out going through the account executive who was working with the client. These changes usually added more time and work on the project, which of course caused me to charge more hours on my project sheet. Not knowing the AE had quoted a certain number of hours based on our original discussion of the project, the extra hours I would of course go unpaid for, because we needed to keep the client happy. It didn't take long, before my AE's were on my speed dial and I called and confirmed all changes to the spots before they were done.
Hi Adam,
DeleteYour example demonstrates why there must be communication between all team members. The AEs in your case were the project managers and should have been approving any changes all along. However, with you working directly with the client, the AEs were out of the loop until they reviewed your project sheet. Of course, the AEs should have communicated to you the time/money limits and the appropriate process if the client wanted to change something. This is a great reminder about the importance of communication.
Laurene
Hi Gary,
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure I would say to not encourage or accept a client's suggestion/suggestions for new features for a new product or system, but instead ensure you have a change request process in place and ensure it's documented and followed whenever a recommendation or change is made. I think the bigger challenge is not getting caught up in the suggestions and recommendations, no matter how much better it might make the end result. I can see that happening a lot on projects we may be fairly excited about already, and then a recommendation comes that we know will significantly improve; if it's outside of the scope it should be added to a log for consideration AFTER the other project requirements are completed.
- Jenna Holtz
Hi Gary,
ReplyDeleteI understand as I often feel that I need to prove myself (similar to impressing others) with my work. It's tough but I try to keep in mind that I need to complete what they wanted not toss on bells and whistles to go the extra mile.
Jenn