On over-communicating: make sure clients experience no surprises.
Establish a governance cadence where you go through the project status in detail. Inform them of any possible blockers as soon as you become aware of them. Create mitigation plans for all risks you identify.
Do not wait until the last week to communicate risks and issues, when they have become unmanageable.
It's the fastest way for clients to lose confidence in your capabilities.
I chuckled at "bi-weekly", I felt your pain: so many times I've been the one asking if what they really meant was "fortnightly" or "every two weeks".
That also ties well with the over-communication advice, especially if working remotely you have to clarify and follow-up twice as much you would do while working in person.
Richard- Excellent tips. I would add to point #1—get agreement on data sources between stakeholders. Stakeholders can be slippery suckers and often work their own agendas under the guise of "being helpful." One of the popular tricks happens when someone tables some kind of report or recommendation and backs it up with data. They pull out some other data set and use that to challenge the original analysis. As the consultant it is very frustrating to have your time and deadlines being consumed while stakeholders start debating data sets.
On over-communicating: make sure clients experience no surprises.
Establish a governance cadence where you go through the project status in detail. Inform them of any possible blockers as soon as you become aware of them. Create mitigation plans for all risks you identify.
Do not wait until the last week to communicate risks and issues, when they have become unmanageable.
It's the fastest way for clients to lose confidence in your capabilities.
Yes, no surprises should totally be up there. Communicating consistent and proactively is so critical.
I chuckled at "bi-weekly", I felt your pain: so many times I've been the one asking if what they really meant was "fortnightly" or "every two weeks".
That also ties well with the over-communication advice, especially if working remotely you have to clarify and follow-up twice as much you would do while working in person.
Ha, wait until you make the newbie mistake of putting bi-weekly meetings into a contract!
Richard- Excellent tips. I would add to point #1—get agreement on data sources between stakeholders. Stakeholders can be slippery suckers and often work their own agendas under the guise of "being helpful." One of the popular tricks happens when someone tables some kind of report or recommendation and backs it up with data. They pull out some other data set and use that to challenge the original analysis. As the consultant it is very frustrating to have your time and deadlines being consumed while stakeholders start debating data sets.
I really love this actually - yes, people can use data to justify pretty much anything. Having a clear agreement on things up-front is key.