Client Commitment Process Pattern

Establishing Client Commitment

Problem

We've all recognised that the Multimedia/Software projects we do often suffer from delays that are the fault of the client, not our own. Examples below:

The client fails to send us materials on time which stops us from continuing work.
The client doesn't read something that we need feedback on in order to continue work.
The client isn't regularly available to discuss issues over the phone or in meetings.

Consequences

Because of this, we have to move our project deadlines to accommodate for the slippage. We then get bottlenecks of work that are difficult to plan for. Also workers and managers have to spend valuable time re-orient themselves with the project each time it is 'paused' and then needs to be started again.

All these things, in my view, drag projects out and make them more costly and problematic.

Possible Solution

On starting a project, explain to the client that we need to guarantee a certain level of commitment on their behalf. The sort of things we might ask could be:

How many man hours a week can you dedicate to this project?
How often are you available to discuss issues?
Are you prepared to read and give consideration to documents we provide?

Resultant Context

We should then be able to let the client know if their level of commitment will fit well with the project deadlines, and negotiate for more commitment if need be. Also, we can extend project deadlines well in advance, simply because we know the clients availability is low.

Example

As an example, X was planned as a 6 week project, but we didn't realise that the client would only be able provide on average 1 hour a week creating web site content, and less than 30 minutes a week on the phone! This was because they had 2 other key IT projects taking place at the same time. I think project X is running into it's 16th week now, mainly because of client delays.

-- TobinHarris

Note - this pattern was a company suggestion for a management meeting. Outcome to be deteminied!

ANY FEEDBACK, NEGATIVE OR POSITIVE, WOULD BE APPRECIATED!! THANKS.

This is a very good start. There is definitely a need for a patterned solution to this problem. We are experiencing this context right now. The current suggested solution is a good start, but needs to be expanded upon and elaborated based on others' experiences.