Retail Rant

During Project meeting, there are often multiple discussion points on agendas, with multiple parties involved. Often, we focus on getting a response out of the meeting, and get going with that. we tend to forget, that communication is key to project success and failure as well.  There are multiple reasons, a miscommunication could happen out of some typical situations,: During the meeting, a conclusion was made, which wasn't a direct input from one person, but instead you have made an inference out of what everyone discussed.  Potential Risk: While you may like to infer the decision, which is favorable to you, not everyone may agree or confer to that. During the meeting, there was almost a conclusion made, but partial agreement. Potential Risk: With an all around agreement from all the parties, there is a potential risk that this decision may be questioned at a later point. There were not all the required or mandatory stakeholders involved, who need to approve the decision. ...

Often organizations work very hard to chase down clients, and even more to get entry into the boardrooms, given major competition in every sector. But, it is very easy for these organizations to get carried away in terms of making promises, in order not to disappoint a customer, or more so, when a response could tide away the decision. While the 'Sales teams' can forget later, and use juicy words while making pitches, clients often don't forget promises and lofty pitches so easily. Especially in the IT landscape, where the sales team closes a deal, the delivery team often is left high and dry with the expectations which are set with the client. More or less, the responsibility lies with the project manager or the account manager to set the right expectations, which pave way for mutual success. Here are some of the points, around which managing and setting expectations is crucial, and attention needs to be paid. Knowing Self & pitching to strengths: This has been time te...

I am starting a short series of Project Management and business analysis related articles. The ideas would be write shorter points, and summarize quick making it a quick read. The first in these would be around some of the observations around the new engagements, working with new clients and how the project management and business analysis, play its role in the overall success, both for client and for the organization. Views, welcome!