To effectively communicate, we must realize that we are all different in the way we perceive the world and use this understanding as a guide to our communication with others ~ Tony Robbins
Agile software development is a game of effective communication in case of handling complex clients. Paranoid clients sometimes create such situations which offshore development teams have to cater very sharply. Following are 5 common problems due to which project leads to failure:
1.Non Technical Client
2.Project Documentation
3.Developers Mistakes
4.Management Mistakes
5.Miscommunication
Non Technical Client:
To understand and handle a non technical client, you have to let him/her speak, let him/her explain what he/she needs irrespective of the technicality. Once he /she is done with his/her explanation, take your time and explain what is possible. Communicate how much time it will take to complete the project. Usually such clients are more concerned of time and cost, so to keep the project and client with in the project scope, you have to introduce fear of time and cost in your discussions.
Project Documentation:
Sometimes during project documentation, few vital details and processes might be missed by the Analyst. Before client may create any issue on that, recheck thoroughly the project documentation before sending it to the Client to avoid any mess.
Developer Mistakes:
As we all know that developers are open to accept the new changes within the project during development phase. But sometimes, this might cause project delay and make a project more complex. If a client is asking for change requests, then developers must log all those change requests for new or existing features of that particular project. Change requests that might take more time, move those to the next phase of project development.
Management Mistakes:
Mistakes from management side may lead a project towards failure too. For instance, development manager or team lead could have tried to accommodate all change requests from Client which resulted in a delay in project deliverable. This is wrong and should not be the case every time. You have to be realistic and strict to project timeline. If something can cause a delay or failure of a project, you have to foresee it and avoid.
Miscommunication:
Miscommunication during billing of the project worsens the situations! Mostly clients ask for some relaxation due to budgetary issues but in general, mistakenly it is understood as the splitting of invoices into two or more months. Billing of extra services might cause extra overhead for Client even. To abstain from such scenarios, you need to timely intervene and handle the billing of the project before it gets worse/mishandled.
Conclusion:
In order to avoid such problems:
- Finalize the requirements document before starting the project
- Do not accept unnecessary change requests in current development phase, move new change requests to next phases
- Buy time on every mandatory change
- If client is requesting for some billing relaxation, timely intervene and handle it before it get worst
- Make sure invoices are sent on timely basis for all extra services
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