What Clients Struggle Most With

I have a varied client base in terms of industry, organisation size and configuration (NGOs, PBOs and for-profits). You will not be surprised to hear that a few similar issues come up repeatedly in my engagements. Here is a list of some of the most common problems my clients have had when dealing with software systems.

1. Too far down the wrong path

The sunk cost fallacy regularly causes clients to spend too much time and money on a wrongly configured project. Wrong partner, wrong approach, wrong tech, wrong product entirely. By the time the mistake fully sets in leaders are desperate, and often low on both time and funds available to meet their goals. The natural reaction is to search for a quick fix, get things working now and kick the can down the road until they can regroup, fix issues properly when things have “settled”. We try hard to accommodate and plan a route to a better place, but often parts of a project cannot be salvaged.

2. What lies beneath

Many clients have lack of understanding of the complexity, at a detail level, involved with parts of a product or system they want to create as they don't always have access to direct experience. This plays out in a few ways, like they don’t consider edge cases and exceptions, or they start building something before they have a clear idea of what it is, but struggle to remain flexible in an evolving process. These shortcomings ultimately boil down to this: Expectations are going to have to go through a process of adjustment. Speaking the truth in this situation is a tricky business, especially when a client is surrounded by service providers who say what is most convenient, but it is always the right thing to do.

3. Your win is not our win

Projects can be deeply personal to staff in an organisation, and stakeholders may have personal objectives relating to advancement, financial rewards, recognition and career satisfaction. Organisations need to surface and manage personal goals within the context of a project, as each individual is not necessarily be able to do so on their own. In practice shared objectives lose their coherence when mistakes are made, stress levels are high and things are going wrong. This happens on almost every project, so proactive management is key.

Back to the main page.