how to handle an off location (client) project manager (me in India - he in Singapore) who does not like to listen to issues and problems on the project but just PUSHES for the end date. (and advances a previously agreed end date). Not his fault though as he mnonitors 15 to 20 projects and hardly has any time. Saving Changes...
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John ZacharProduct Dev Manager| Association for Project Management (APM)Brackley,, Northamptonshire, United Kingdom
Its tough!
However, if you were to agree your deliverables, and their acceptance criteria at the begining, understand what and how you will be 'building' them, and then estimate realistically, then a 'better' end date might be obtained.
I am a project mangement consultant working in England, and one of my peers a number of years ago helped me realise that if I were to drive the uncertainty out of my project, then I would be in a much better position to have these types of discussions in the future. The problem of geographical separation does compound the issue.
Good luck. Saving Changes...
Mark Price PerryBusiness Driven PMO Evangelist| BOT InternationalOrlando, Fl, United States
Dear Vikas, regarding how to manage a very busy client who expects that the agreed to date of completion for the project will be met and doesn't have or make the time to discuss issues and problems; one approach is for you or your firm to do whatever it takes to honor your agreement with your client. This might mean working overtime and not billing the client and incurring addition project costs and not billing the client. Then, after project closing, document all of your lessons learned and then prepare a recommendation for improvement. From your brief post, one could conclude that your project management process does not adequately provide what you need to manage the project and deliver what was committed to the client. It also seems that while you had an agreement with the client on the "end date", there was no agreement with the client on project procedures, communication, and issues and change management. If you had client agreement on these things like you did on the end date, then your client would be obligated to talk to and work with you per your agreement, instead of not making the time for you. Rather than "handling" the client, why not fix the real problem? Continuous process improvement is a journey. If you take that journey, you will have improved project results and happier customers. Good luck my friend! -- Mark Perry, VP of Customer Care, BOT International Saving Changes...
HEMAM RANJIT KUMAR SINGHFounder & Director| TechSure Global Consultancy LLPGuwahati, Assam, India
I totally do agree with Mark. Thanks. Saving Changes...
