[thelist] how do you manage/respond?

Martin Burns martin at easyweb.co.uk
Fri May 29 15:42:34 CDT 2009


On 29 May 2009, at 16:24, Bob Meetin wrote:

> We all have multiple projects in the queue.  Occasionally you get a
> client who is slow to move on a project but then whenever they do  
> their
> piece, they call and expect you to jump immediately with your next
> part?


As has already been suggested - your quote needs to be good until N  
date, and is subject to them meeting the defined dependencies  
(requirements by date A; design signoff by date B; copy by date C;  
site signoff by date D).

Missed a dependency (including start date)? Sure, no problem. But we  
can't hold to our original estimates which were based on the  
assumptions you signed up to (ie the dependency dates).

It's not (and should not be) your problem if they're disorganised  
shlubs. While of course you try to mitigate by assigning people to  
fill-in work where you can, you can't guarantee it to any degree. And  
of course, *all* your dependency dates should have contingency in them.

Waiting around for them to do their stuff either
1) costs them money to pay for the dedicated team-member (or part  
thereof) waiting to jump to it for them
2) costs them delay as you'll assign team-members to other clients

My dayjob client badly misses dependencies all the time, and I've now  
got to the point of routinely issuing CRs against our original  
estimates (date & cost) every time they miss one.

Cheers
Martin
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