What Customers Want
The assignment seemed clear-cut. Now, no matter what I deliver, the client says it’s not what he wants. All he says is that he’ll know it when he sees it. Arrrgggh! I want out!
So began the sad saga of one of my associates. The dreaded
IKIWISI (I’ll Know It When I See It) is the fastest way to drive project managers and team members off a project faster than rats from a sinking ship--assuming they have an escape route.
Trying to complete a project successfully is almost impossible if you don’t know what the customer wants. Extracting that key piece of information is fraught with problems. People tend to describe solutions rather than goals--because they’re easier to visualize and, thus, put into words. But many folks can’t describe anything. Yup, I’ll Know It When I See It is an all-too-often refrain.
It’s tough to describe what you want. Perhaps you have friends who tell stories about their disastrous online dating experiences. Despite all sorts of psychological expertise and tests, most online dating matches are completely off the mark. For me, the best example of the challenge is the movie Bedazzled (the original with Dudley Moore and Peter Cooke). Dudley Moore’s character sells his soul to the devil (Peter Cooke) and then asks for what he wants. Time after time, the devil gives him exactly what he asked for in a way that is completely unsatisfactory. Of course, here we’re talking the devil, not your current customer.
So, what to do? Well, if you’re already managing the project from hell--so to speak--all your choices require fancy footwork and smooth interpersonal skills. The basic course of action is to go back and redefine the objectives (or define them if you skipped that step). One way to convince management to do this is
The team has lost sight of what we’re trying to accomplish. Can we sit down and talk about the mission and objectives so I can help the team understand the project purpose?
If you are an employee, the sad truth is that you may need an outside consultant to deliver the advice, which means you have to convince management to hire a consultant to deliver the advice you could give for free. (For some reason, the high price tag of a consultant often makes management think the advice is better than the in-house expertise of salaried employees.)
The preferred approach is avoidance, as in, don’t start a project unless you understand what it’s all about. Take time to meet with stakeholders to hash out objectives, define the mission statement, the scope, and so on. You’ll probably be pressured to rush these tasks, but you must hang tough. If you’re up against IKIWISI, ask the customers if they’ve seen something like what they have in mind--a similar Web site, a magazine article with the right tone, or a police artist's sketch. A research or pilot phase is can give you a nudge in the right direction.
Special note for contractors, consultants, and third party vendors: avoid fixed price contracts if the objectives and scope are nebulous. Fixed price contracts place the risk on the deliverer; and that risk is so high, the fixed price is bound to knock you out of the running. An alternative is starting with time and materials until the project is defined and then switch to fixed price for the remainder.
If you can’t reach an accord with the customer on what the project is about, walk away. Yes, you are risking your next paycheck, an assignment, a contract, or your job. But being trapped on a poorly defined project can make you desperately wish you had. What was supposed to be a two-week assignment could eat up months of your time and earning potential. Or, the failed project could become an unsightly blemish on your reputation.
