Project Management Tips and Techniques:
Use This Framework to Manage Expectations on Your Project
Tom Mochal

Each month, Tom Mochal, President of TenStep, Inc. presents project management tips and techniques for planning and managing a project. TenStep, Inc. has a comprehensive, scalable project management process called TenStep (www.TenStep.com), as well as a project lifecycle process called LifecycleStep (www.LifecycleStep.com). Tom has also published a popular book called Lessons in Project Management that can be purchased at  www.TenStep.com.  Pipeline readers receive 20% off any TenStep or LifecycleStep purchase by entering the coupon code of "Pipeline" in their purchase.

Managing the expectations of the client is important on all projects, but especially when the project is large, highly visible, political and / or business critical. When expectations are managed well, all parties feel good about the outcome, even if the project experiences a number of changes and challenges. When expectations are not managed well, even a project that comes in on time and on budget might be seen as unsuccessful from a client perspective.

Managing expectations means keeping the client informed as to how the project is going and the changes, if any, that are made to previous agreements and understandings. Major surprises can be fatal to a project. The project manager should ensure that client staff is involved in the project and that the expectations of the client and project manager are always aligned. The bottom line is that you want to make sure you inform your clients of any major news (good or bad) before they find out from some other source.

The following process helps set an overall framework for successfully managing expectations.

1. Establish an agreement. This is probably the most overlooked yet most obvious piece. It is difficult or impossible to manage client expectations if you do not have some agreement to begin with. There are two places to gain the original agreement. The first is the Project Definition. One of the purposes of the Project Definition is to ensure that there is agreement on the project scope, deliverables, assumptions, risk, budget, timeline, etc. The next obvious area for gaining agreement is the business requirements. Documenting the business requirements and having the client approve them is a major step in establishing the initial agreement.
2. Manage change. If you do not have an agreement to start with, you have no chance to manage expectations effectively. However, once an agreement has been reached, changes should be managed through the scope change management process. This ensures that the business client approves all changes and helps keep expectations in line.
3. Communicate proactively. When the agreement has been reached, continue to communicate proactively through the status reporting process or as part of a broader Communications Plan – especially if there are any problems meeting the expectations. This helps the client keep up-to-date on progress, issues, risks, etc. The main motivation is to avoid surprises. You want to inform your clients before they call you after hearing of news elsewhere.
4. Periodically assess performance. The project manager should be assessing expectations on an ongoing basis. This is usually done by managing the workplan and budget, which will help you determine quickly if the expectations of the project are not being met. If it looks unlikely that you will meet expectations, immediate steps should be taken to get back on track.
5. Deliver against the expectations. Again, this may seem obvious. However, once an agreement has been put into place, you need to make sure that you deliver as expected. One of the communication weaknesses on the part of many people is that they do not fulfill their agreed-upon expectations, and they do not communicate with the client to inform them of the status and acknowledge the missed expectation.
6. Reset expectations if necessary. If you determine that the original agreement cannot be satisfied, the agreement should be re-negotiated. This process includes gathering the facts surrounding the inability to meet the original agreement. In addition, alternative courses of action should be formulated to determine how to perform as closely to the original agreement as possible in a way that will satisfy both parties. This may include more time, increased budget or delivering something less than the customer originally wanted. Once a modified agreement has been reached, reset the expectations and begin the work necessary to meet the requirements of the new agreement.
7. Complete the agreement. Review the completed work with the client to ensure that the terms of the agreement have been fully met. If not, negotiate what will be required to fulfill the agreement.

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