Beyond Budget and Scope: Managing Client Expectations and Delivering Value

Many projects begin with by ambiguous needs, unclear priorities, mind-changing customers, and of course, a tight deadline. There are tools to monitor budget and schedule, but failure to manage client expectations often results in frustrating miscommunications and serious consequences for projects and business relationships. Come away with a some ideas for modifying your current process to involve clients in a way that encourages healthy collaboration and lets your team work in a productive manner.

Points covered:

* Setting the stage for realistic expectations
* Engaging clients and understanding their organizational culture
* Information gathering: capturing needs and seeking understanding
* Fostering clearer understandings of risks and limitations
* Defining quality, deliverables and completion criteria
* Insights and practical techniques for optimal communications
* Addressing communication gaps in professional encounters
* Defining responsibilities and managing conflict
* Managing team/stakeholders resources
* Managing scope creep and special requests
* Handling overuns and slippage (and bearing bad news)
* Project completion and signoff

Drupal Specifics:

* How better to communicate what we know to our clients
* Best practices for including clients in the planning process
* Clearly defining deliverables and completion criteria