I'm working for a support and advocacy organization for military veterans. The program is a digital transformation with several projects within it. The end customer is ultimately veterans who receive better services through enabling technology and staff that work in better ways to support these veterans. It just struck me that I may never meet the end customer. Have you had a similar experience? Saving Changes...
Stephen SmithSGSE LLCCoral Springs, Fl, United States
Keep your perspective on who the customer and who the end users are. I'd say 90-95% of the projects I've worked on over the last 30 years, I never interacted with the end users. This is especially true in large technology projects. Your direct/ immediate client is the sponsor who's got the budget and pays your bills. Even if you don't meet them face to face, you have regular interaction with them. The end users are a whole different ball game. A good example for me would be deploying a credit card platform on what is now IBMs i-Series for a bank client back in 1989. They hadn't issued any plastic yet - so I'm sure I didn't interact with the end users ('customers' in your example). Of course, your implementation had to address their satisfaction with the solution as well :) Saving Changes...
Kgobalale John MalatjiProjects Portfolio Manager | Noko-impJohannesburg, Gauteng, South Africa
It commonly occurs with greenfield construction projects where the operations team is employed towards the end of the project when there is no longer opportunity to influence the deliverables. Saving Changes...
Peter RapinSubject Matter Expect; Project Delivery| Independent ConsultantOntario, Canada
This may be slightly off topic but in my experience the Project Manager can become the problem when he insists that all communications/decision be through him. The rest of the team does not have direct access to the end user including the Subject Matter Experts. I have frequently heard the statement: "I am accountable for project delivery therefore I have to control everything. I don't want you talking to the client."
Don't limit your concern to external forces, these bottlenecks can happen internally. Saving Changes...
Product Operations Program ManagerBarcelona, Cataluña, Spain
I looked back and realized that this has never occurred to me (yet). In all my projects, both internal and external, I have met the customer(s), typically more than once during project's life cycle. Saving Changes...
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