Client Understanding

Before we can begin work on tasks or even fully document what the client is expecting, our customers need to know what they are asking for, with enough level of details, so that we don’t have any major surprises once work gets underway.

If the client doesn’t understand what they are looking for, there is no way that we can meet their expectations. The client may need assistance with defining their requirements and needs in order for us to meet their expectations and be successful.

Even if our clients do have a pretty good idea of what they are looking for, there are very likely details of the initiative that need to be thought through and implemented into the task.

On the other hand, there may be cases where there are things we know that we don’t know until work is begun. These issues can and should be identified as risks that can be mitigated. Finally, there are things that we don’t know yet; in almost all cases these are the issues that cause projects to be delivered late, not meet expectations or even cause projects to fail. Communication is key to resolving these issues and be successful in the end.

A balance must be struck between missing too many details that will be required to complete the work and capturing too many details where we will be wasting the time and approaching analysis paralysis. It is not possible, and even if it was, it’s not worth the investment in time and money to attempt to cover every single contingency or detail on a project up front.