Lately I have noticed an increase in companies and industry experts asking their clients to tell them exactly what they want, how it should be delivered, etc. These businesses range from retailers to highly respected professional organizations. Overall, I think you get what you pay for, but I’ve been surprised how often it seems like you don’t anymore. It often amazes me that any business, especially a professional services organization, would ask their client to spell things out in such detail. What happened to analysis and being experts in our specialties? When we outsource or call on other organizations, it’s often because we don’t have the resources, skill set, or time. Requiring significant detail and planning from our clients puts much of the burden back on them and adds risk to our projects. We should not want or allow our client to tell us exactly how to structure a project. Customers and end users generally do not have the necessary information about all dependencies or do not have the right mix of experience to undertake such an effort. That’s why they called us.

Before we get frustrated because our users and clients don’t have a definitive plan for the project they assign us, we must see these situations as opportunities and not as annoyances. Sometimes clients can be so demanding in their thought process that creativity for the project and maximum business value is stifled. While we need our customers to provide clear goals and directions on how to measure project success, we don’t need or expect our customers and users to tell us exactly how to implement a project. Recent observations have made me realize that in our very fast-paced environments, we can quickly lose track of our roles and responsibilities. The roles and steps that we must carry out will be based on the client’s budget, what they have hired us to manage and what they will manage internally. Below are some of the typical roles and responsibilities we are accused of performing:

Client/end user:

• Set the project budget
• Communicate general direction and high-level objectives
• Project Success Definition
• Provide ongoing feedback throughout the project
• Review and acceptance of the project
• project measurement

Project Manager/Team:

• Document and communicate Understanding the need
• Research and brainstorm possible solutions with the project team
• Create project plan documentation
• Detailed project specifications
• Update project plan documentation as details emerge
• Manage projects, deliverables and milestones
• Communicate with the client throughout the project (according to the project/communication plan)
• Deliver project and train
• Work with the client to measure success

Most of us are familiar with and practice this formal list, but there are also some very important professional and analyst attributes that we must also possess in order to avoid being classified as an order taker:

• Be creative; think of alternatives – When faced with a business struggle, think about your past experiences and come up with practical ideas to resolve the situation, in various capacities.
• Support your decisions with reasons, even if your client doesn’t ask for it. – When proposing new ideas or solutions, be sure to include why you think something may or may not work. It is important that our clients see our thoroughness, even if they do not choose one of the alternatives. Presenting them with a rationale for something that won’t work helps build credibility. But be sure to back up your alternatives and abandoned paths with the research and experience you have on each idea.
• Be comprehensive in your approach – Do not take shortcuts in what you have been asked to do and also in what you think you should do for the customer. Hard work and details pay off and it’s the right thing to do.
• Do research when you don’t know the answer – Unfortunately, we don’t always know everything a customer asks for or what is needed to solve a problem. This is part of growing up and should be a regular part of our daily lives. If someone asks us something we don’t know, we should never leave it at that and instead should 1) research the item ourselves or 2) locate the best resource to address the question. In any case, we must inform the client of what is being done, so that they do not remain in doubt.
• Be honest, but courteous and professional. – We all appreciate honesty. Honesty is especially valued in businesses where time is money and we all try to do more for our businesses with less funds. When presenting the facts and communicating, we still need to get the message across in a positive and professional manner.
• Have confidence – All interactions must show confidentiality. Even in cases where we don’t have an immediate response, our job is to make our customers and end users feel comfortable.
• Offer ideas outside of what they ask for – Clients appreciate that we go above and beyond and take care of their organizations. While we don’t want to stray too far from the original request, understanding the customer’s organization in general can help us add additional value to the customer. Offering alternative forms of operation and other enhancements will help strengthen your relationship and allow others to benefit from our trials and tribulations.

As project management professionals and professional team leaders, we have an obligation to change this dynamic and ensure that we deliver expected value in both our professional and personal lives.