Project Management - The Traveling Product Manager

Various studies ? and common sense ? indicate that involving customers increases the likelihood that your product will meet customer requirements (I hope these studies weren't funded with my tax dollars!)

Although the above statement sounds exceedingly obvious, the fact of the matter is many software projects lack customer input. Consider the following example:

Week 0: Red, our friendly project mangler, is in charge of the next release of his organization's flagship product. For the past 3 months, Product Management has been meeting with existing and potential customers to determine which incremental features should be added to the existing release. After gathering those requirements, the one and only Product Manager wrote an SRS (Software Requirements Specification) that has now been handed over to Red.

Week 1: After reviewing the SRS, Product Development's first cut of the project estimates it will take between 30 to 34 person-months to meet all of the requirements. Red's budget only accounts for 25 person-months.

Week 2: Red's top priority is to scrub the requirements. Unfortunately, the Product Manager, who just ramped up a hard 3 months, took a well-deserved vacation. He'll be back in 1 week. To get his team going, Red decides to prioritize the requirements himself and cut a few features that he doesn't feel are necessary.

Week 3: Another week has gone by and the Product Manager is back from his vacation, well rested. After spending most of the day going through his inbox, he stumbles across an email from Red informing him that the I18N feature will not make it in this release given the budget constraints. The Product Manager is fuming. "This feature has been committed to a customer and MUST be in the product!" On this note, he leaves for Europe to meet with a huge potential customer.

Week 4: Red is still over budget, and needs to add I18N back in the product. The Product Manager made it very clear that I18N was expected by a customer, but didn't explain which other features were of lesser priority. Red hopes that he can settle everything when the Product Manager comes back from Europe early next week.

Week 5: Our Product Manager was scheduled to come back from Europe this week, but a major sales opportunity presented itself in Brazil, so he's off once more. Since the project has already used up 16 person-months, Red desperately needs to determine which features are not going to make it in the product. He asks around for feedback, and everyone has a different opinion. Red therefore decides to loosen some of the requirements related to performance. "The system might not respond quickly, but at least all of the features will work."

Week 6: The Product Manager comes back from Brazil. He finally gets to meet with Red and the rest of the R&D team. He informs them that it's critical the system meets the performance requirements. However, the Reporting and the SSO features, which were respectively sized at 2 and 3 person-months each, are not required in this release of the product and can be rescheduled for the next release. The lead developers working on these features inform them they were both were completed a week ago.

I don't think I need to describe the rest of this project. But in case you haven't guessed, it was late and over budget.

If you were to ask this Product Manager whether or not he involved the customer in the project, his answer would be "Absolutely! I spent 3 months gathering requirements and writing an SRS." But where was the customer feedback when the SRS needed to be scrubbed? And where was the Product Manager when Red and the R&D team needed questions answered regarding the list of features?

In a Hundred Words or Less

Gathering feedback to write your SRS is a great start to involving the customer in your project, but you can't stop there. If your user input stops when Product Management prints out the SRS, you're in trouble!

Involving the customer means having the customer or his proxy (e.g. the Product Manager) available at all times. If you truly believe that involving customers increases the likelihood that your product will meet customer requirements, make sure they are involved throughout the project, not just in the Definition phase.

Luc Richard is professional speaker and author with over 10 years of experience managing the development of software applications. He can be reached via The Project Mangler (http://www.projectmangler.com).

---

Problem-Solving Success Tip: Dont Leave Your Key Stakeholders Guessing

Communicate! Don't leave you key stakeholders guessing.We are generally not... Read More

Innovation Management ? Emotion, Habit, and Culture can be Hard to Change!

Creativity can be defined as problem identification and idea generation... Read More

Out of Control?

There are papers on the floor, across the desk and... Read More

The Seven Cs: Partnership Danger Signs - The 6th C: Changing Vision

A series of articles exploring the seven critical areas that... Read More

Protect Your Organizations Proprietary Information

The other day one of our overseas clients called in... Read More

Five Habits of Highly Effective Conflict Resolvers

Steven Covey had the right idea. There are discreet skills... Read More

Weaknesses of Wishing

When you're starting a business, you might wish for a... Read More

Allowing Employees Responsibility

Merely assigning a task with detailed instructions is not effective... Read More

Give Yourself a Boss Day Gift, Part 2: Are You the Position or the Person?

Are you the position or the person?Bosses can lose their... Read More

Tales from the Corporate Frontlines: Providing Career Opportunity

This article relates to the Career Opportunity competency, commonly evaluated... Read More

Dealing with Marginal Performers: The Therapeutic Approach

--PREPARATION: The purpose of the therapeutic approach is to spark... Read More

3 Innovation Keys - Do Your Innovative Efforts Need More Power?

Recently, I attended a webinar with nearly 400 other Chief... Read More

Diversity in the Workplace

As you look around your office, is everyone just like... Read More

Treat Employees Fairly, Car Wash Entrepreneur sets Industry Standards

I believe that whether corporations expense their stock options is... Read More

Sexual Harassment Policy Guidelines Part II

SEXUAL HARASSMENT COMPLAINT INVESTIGATION PROCEDUREEvery complaint will be thoroughly investigated.... Read More

1000 Managers Turned Their Plans Into Energy!

I bet you can't tell me how leadership training and... Read More

Employee Retention: Its a Changing Game

As a management consultant, I have seen some poorly conceived... Read More

IT Expenditure - Why Businesses Spend Huge Amounts on Ineffective IT Investments

Another IT White Elephant!It seems that almost every day we... Read More

Difficult Employees-Poor Performance - 10 Tips for Dealing with it in the Workplace

I personally struggle with the term 'managing people' - because... Read More

Management Procedures Usability ? How to Improve

Are your people consistently following your procedures? Each year, organizations... Read More

How to Manage Your People Well: Tips for Managers of Training

As a training manager, there are two important aspects to... Read More

Introducing the 15 Frameworks of Successful Self-Employed Professionals

A framework is a way of thinking, a point-of-view, a... Read More

The Leadership Imperative: Making Your Leadership Your Life

Nearly all leaders I've encountered are underachievers. They're getting a... Read More

Satisfied Employees, A Powerful Marketing Strategy

Even in today's still uncertain economic times, there are companies... Read More

Tales from the Corporate Frontlines: Employee Ideas Achieve Work Life Balance

This article relates to the Work/Life Balance competency, which investigates... Read More

Great Hires: Avoid Costly Mistakes

Picking people for a job is like going... Read More

Business Intelligence & Data Warehousing in a Business Perspective

Business IntelligenceBusiness Intelligence has become a very important activity in... Read More

The Punitive Approach to Marginal Performers

MANAGING A MARGINAL PERFORMER: Often a marginal performer, even after... Read More

A Journey of a Thousand Miles

You can't build a reputation on what you are "going"... Read More

Management & Leadership - Doing it right in the 21st Century

The Old Way ? Command and ControlAlthough workplaces and management... Read More

Performance Management - By Assuming Nothing

Unhappy as Jenny undoubtedly was, she held on very tightly... Read More

The Challenges of Human Resource Management

IntroductionThe role of the Human Resource Manager is evolving with... Read More

Delegating Responsibility

Too many managers waste both time and energy performing tasks... Read More