The "self-penalty" within the framework of managing small and large projects, whether they are placed on us or whether we are required for them, stems from the fact that all customers are busy doing the core and focused on their businesses. Therefore, the distribution of attention, the investment of resources and their ability to really control the project is zero to almost impossible, so how much is the client really able to influence the project in all its stages?
Hence, the client is required to put all his trust in the hands of professional parties in the hope that they will represent him and his needs in practice and in the hope that they will indeed take care of his interests in the project.
Without generalizing and without harming our dear professionals who are and work in the markets, it is very difficult for me not to make the analogy of raising children, our children are the complex project of our lives and the question is how willing would you be to put them in the hands of others in the hope that one day you will receive the child back with your life's concepts , your faith and the important values you grew up with? And if so you were ready... how different was the reality that you would encounter compared to what you expected or dreamed of?
The premise that you would meet a different child, in a different character, in a different reality! Therefore, in this case, it is reasonable to assume that most of us would be willing to put our children at the maximum for only a few hours in the frameworks and a maximum of a few days with the parents and that's all! All this in order to maintain absolute control and control over the upbringing of the children.
If so, in whose hands is it right to entrust a complex project? Who is the professional entity that on the one hand will allow control of the project, and on the other hand will allow continuous influence in the decision-making axis without encountering a different reality one day?
In order to answer this question, it is necessary to understand that the professional stakeholders who operate in the field are influenced and guided by the budget, schedule and contents and have one goal to finish the project as quickly as possible and move on to the next project, while the client has the same goal but with one small and significant difference - quality Performing high functionality that will serve the users for decades to come.
In light of the above, the obvious conclusion is that it is necessary to allocate resources both in the BA and in the budgets in order to appoint the right people to manage the client side of the project!
If I had been in a large organization, it would have been correct to assign standards to the subject with the understanding that the financial cost of freezing the configuration and in the future would exceed the temporary expense of assigning CA standards. The organizational culture, mindset and needs of the organization in a short time and who will be the replacement and representative of the client who knows how to protect the interests throughout the life of the project.
Hence the understanding that it is very important that the manager of the client side of the project, as we learned in the previous chapters, not only have a professional understanding, but also have a broad enough vision to understand very quickly the needs and the organizational culture, adapt to the reality of the client on the ground and make a strategic analysis of the client's needs with a view to the future and no less than the ten The following years in social life.
The accompaniment of a client-side project manager throughout the life of the project (from initiation to the day after) enables mediation, control and absolute involvement in the project for the client, because through the continuous accompaniment he provides an answer to existing gaps and barriers that we have identified in the management of the various projects and we will expand on this.
During the management of the various projects, we came to two key insights - the ocean of information in complex projects is not managed and there is really no connection of the client to his project with an emphasis on critical decision nodes. In most cases, these 2 issues create losses of millions of shekels in light of a number of built-in barriers that exist in the system.
The first barrier is the management of information and knowledge in the project - we learned that there is a higher than desired turnover of managers and stakeholders, the flow of information between all partners in the project is poor and that there is really no sharing of knowledge. The second barrier is in the decision-making axis of the project - the decision-makers on the client's side lack understanding and lack professionalism in the field and are not partners in critical decision-making nodes. The third barrier is the client's lack of inventions in the control stages of the project - due to the lack of resources to carry out controls and simulations and the lack of critical bank controls.
If so, why are all those involved in the project, including the main influencer (the client), surprised that there are changes that lead to a configuration freeze that causes a budget increase, a delay in the project Gantt, a decrease in the quality of execution and a significant disconnect between the dream and what is encountered in reality?
From this, it can be concluded that the client's involvement and influence on the project is critical for all partners and stakeholders and how critical his connection to the project is in all five of its stages - hence the need to appoint a client side manager in the project who is required to understand the central mission he has as a client side manager in the project!
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