Hi all,
I am new to client facing project management. Could anyone please help me understand better what customer facing entails? How it differs to being an internal project manager? How do you initiate a project with an external client? What criteria do you choose when you select a project? And so on?
Any help would be great!
Thank you all in advance! Saving Changes...
Stéphane ParentSelf Employed / Semi-retired| Leader MakerPrince Edward Island, Canada
I have worked on client projects where I was:
a) the sole project manager
b) I was my company's project manager working with a client project manager
c) I was a project administrator for the client project manager.
Each one requires a different approach, including communication plan. Saving Changes...
In an internal project usually all the stakeholders ultimately report to a single individual and that is the CEO or they can even report to a lower senior manager. Even if the PM may not have formal authority over the project resources there is a manager that does have and if needed he can intervene.
In a customer facing project nobody has control over all the stakeholders and that's what makes the life of the PM much challenging.
In internal projects the stakeholders are colleagues so they can communicate and make decisions between them without the PM. In customer facing projects even if the PMs don't have the final say they are always involved in the decision making process.
In some companies for internal projects that are not very complex PMs may be just some sort of paper pushers doing not a very important work, in customer facing projects on the other hand the PMs almost always play a key role. Saving Changes...
