January 25, 2012

Walking into a Trainwreck – Part 2

Posted by Brad Egeland

In Part 1 of this two-part series on walking into a project customer mess where their plans and expectations don’t meet the real project need we looked at how this happens, how to recognize it, and planning for how to respond. In this Part 2, let’s examine three response scenarios for the customer’s problem.

Scenario #1 – The right solution will cost more / take more time.

This particular scenario usually won’t sit very well with the customer. It’s basically like bringing the customer a change order on a project. Finding out they underestimated and that the real solution will cost more and take more time is bad news to them. They will either question you and wonder if you have the expertise to really know what they need, or they’ll appreciate the fact that you discovered this early on before additional time and money was wasted.

Be sure to back up your proposed solution with detailed findings from your discovery, and a very professionally laid out quote and project timeline for the customer. The more information you can give them about why your findings are different from theirs, the more likely they are to trust your expertise and move forward with your proposed solution.

Scenario #2 – The right solution will cost less / take less time.

This is a difficult one. On the one hand, it will make the customer happy and if the savings is significant they’re not likely to question you too much as long as what you present makes sense and has data to back it up. On the other hand, you lose money and guaranteed work with this scenario. But it’s a call you have to make.

The greedy route of knowing this is the scenario yet proceeding to implement the customer’s proposed solution just so you’re guaranteed more money and more billable time is the wrong route to take and can permanently damage your reputation. If the project goes well, you’ve potentially gained a client for life and a long-term revenue stream.

Scenario #3 – The customer won’t consider any other solutions.

This scenario puts you in a dilemma. Many customers are stubborn enough to say “this is our budget and this is what we’re going to do whether you like it or not and whether you accept the job or not.”

You could throw up your arms and say “ok, let’s do it.” However, if it fails like you anticipate it will, the customer may still blame you because they’ll need a scapegoat and ultimately they brought you in to run the project.

You could refuse to do the work based on your knowledge that the customer’s proposed solution won’t solve their need and is basically a waste of time and money. What that will get you is empty pockets and a reputation with this company that will probably mean you’ll never hear from them again.

This one is entirely up to the individual IT consultant on how it should be handled. And it may depend on your current workload. As for myself, if I’m in a situation where I need the work, I’d push forward on the customer’s proposed solution and look for early opportunities to re-direct the project if things start to go wrong.

Share this post: