Project Content Management

Project content management is a key area of expertise. Many projects fail most often because their content and scope are poorly defined. 

 

He expectations of stakeholders, in particular, the customer or the sponsor, often do not coincide with the expectations of the project team. 

Making expectations match is a difficult task, but it is crucial to address it for the success of the project as a whole.

When it comes to defining the content of a project,the project team and the client seem to switch roles. 

 

Up to this point, the customer is mainly in contact with people whose tasks include "selling" the project. 

The "seller" tried to convince the customer that the project was a worthwhile business, it was worth spending money on it. 

 

Sometimes the "seller" describes the project in such bright colors that it intentionally or involuntarily makes the client believe:

Everything that the latter could imagine in the most incredible dreams, thanks to the project, will turn into reality. In fact, this happens very rarely.



When a project team is formed and the definition of the project content occurs during the negotiation process, the customer often believes that the project has already been agreed. The client thinks that he will get everything he dreamed of, and even more. 

 

As a result, the customer considers the entire process of determining the content and boundaries of the project to be a waste of time. The client may even be opposed to the definition of the project content. This happens if the customer himself does not really understand what he needs.

One of the most challenging challenges for the project team is to convince the client representatives that their goals in the project are similar in many ways. In other words, the main goal of the project is to give the customer what he really needs and is very important. 

 

There is no point in building a relationship between the client and the project staff on the principles of rivalry, because everyone wants the project to succeed, for it to bring benefits and meet the tasks for which it was started.

The project team must enter the customer's position. Do not worry that the customer knows less about the project than you. Ultimately, the reason why certain people work on the project is precisely because they are specialists in this particular field. 

 

Whatever the customer's representatives think, no matter what they say, they are not specialists. Otherwise, the project would not have been started.

Sometimes extraordinary means must be used to determine the boundaries of the project. Perhaps one or more project employees will have to work for some time with the customer to get up to date and realize what improvements he expects from the project. 

 

This is a good technique if the client is unwilling or unable to allocate the necessary time and human resources to work with the project team. The representative of the project seems to be reincarnated in the customer and, having learned a lot about him, begins to speak on his behalf.

Of course, ideally, everyone should do their own work. The customer (as well as all interested parties) should be actively involved in the work of the project team. 

 

The higher the level of interaction, the better the result will be. And it all starts with determining the content and boundaries of the project.