Indemnity letters for clients who refuse project management
Steve HawkesBourne End, Buckinghamshire, United Kingdom
I keep coming up against clients who refuse to have project management and i was thinking of making them sign a letter that literallty tells them all the things we WONT do if they have no Project manager.
Has anyone done anything like this before and has any copies? Saving Changes...
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Russell GeakeProject Management Consultant| Deciduous Partners LtdLostwithiel, Cornwall, United Kingdom
have you asked them why they won't take a PM? What kind of projects are you running? Presumably you have explained the risks (this could be a catch22) - explain the risks of not having a PM and get told that you are too risky to give the contract to.
Is it that the clients are concerned about the additional cost rather than considering the value? If this is happening a lot, what is the primary factor for their choice? Is there any way that you could build PM functionality into the project at each stage? This way you provide the value and maintain control of the project.
Put simply the things you wont do are likely to be refined to "complete the project in accordance with expectations"
I'd be interested to listen to the answers to the questions, there has to be a reason and a solution.
These clients do not want a Project Manager! your thinking is correct, instead of a letter, draw up a client contract that clearly states what will be done and what will not get done [In Scope, Out of Scope] it will be a formal agreement and they will need to sign, it will also aid managing clent expectations as memory lapses of what was agreed verbally could be disputed at a later date, but not if your have a contract in place. Saving Changes...
We were also facing this problems before, Now we realigned our proposal submittal process that there will be a mandatory PM clause in our initial proposals, NO workaround proposal without PM,We built this into our Business Development Process, working fine for us.
Regards
Saving Changes...
Jiju NairSenior Manager| Fannie MaeReston, Va, United States
Yes, clients usually see PM expertise as an overhead if they believe they understand all the project deliverables and their associated risks and want to reduce the cost. I had submitted proposals that had disclaimers on certain aspects of project delivery when the client refused to include PM practice to the deliverables. Some are listed below -
1) If this is a time and material proposal, the project team will be managed by the client PM or Manager. All tasks, issues and risks to the project will be addressed and resolved by client management.
2) Scope, Cost, Schedule and quality of the project will be managed by the client management.
Based on whether you are providing a service or product, you can frame exactly what your team will do for the client and include the above two points that will possibly release you from lapses coming out of proper project management processes. Saving Changes...
I have encountered major IT infrastructure suppliers that will include this as a requirement in their contract - more along the lines of "if you don't appoint a pm then we will and we'll charge you a lot for it" ! Saving Changes...
Rakesh TrivediSenior Project Manager| IT CompanyIndore, Mp, India
Genarlly for smaller duration project this may be true but for large projects there cannot be any exception and feel even naive client would understand that fact.
Anyway, regardless of PM designated officially someone has to take care of the project if chaotic situation should be avoided.
Put in contractually specified responsibilities, sure - but do not ignore PM as a necessity. Try to build it into the overall contract labor rates instead of called out as a separate line item.. Some naive clients believe that you are asking them to pay for a service that should be included as part of the purchase. We generally don't pay for the PM as a line item cost when we buy a car, they may think this is the same. Use the opportunity to educate them on the processes that are different and then if they won't budge, build in the PM costs into the product cost. I think it is foolish to go without PM in a situation that requires one - no matter what the contract says. You may need to be creative in how you express it and get it paid for. Saving Changes...
Does the client have their own project manager? If so they may feel that they don't need a vendor project manager. One option is to change their title. Call them the Implementation Manager so something like that. Explain that this person is their single point of contact for the whole project and will liaise with their project manager regularly to ensure the project remain on track. Saving Changes...
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