How to ensure project management questions get answered

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+5 Q:

How to ensure project management questions get answered

Background: On a new project I've found myself 3 levels removed from my actual source of information. I report to my PM, who reports to our contractor, who reports to the actual client. Getting answers to questions has become something of a problem and I'm curious to know what people recommend.

Needs: I'm trying to find a technology or disciplined strategy that will assist me in ensuring that the questions I'm asking are getting answered:

Correctly without much modification of the original question
Quickly so the original context isn't lost
Completely so that if a question is deferred I don't forget about it.

Does anyone know of a software suite that assists in this matter or do you have any personal discipline strategies that worked for you?

Thank you for the guidance

+4 A:

One strategy might be to cut out the middleman. Go directly to the client and ask what s/he wants.

On a slightly less bold note, request that you, your PM, the contractor, and the client all meet at the same time rather than on relying on an email chain or technology (which will undoubtedly not serve everyone's needs) to relay information. This strategy works particularly well in my experience, as long as you have a manager willing to let you tag along.

Matthew Jones 2010-01-14 16:17:19

Oh if only I could. For some strange reason we accepted a white-box contract so we don't technically exist in this case. On the other hand, not existing is sometimes very easy to market so it should bring us quite a bit of money if I can sort out some of the workflow issues. Regardless, I think I'll have to try to get involved in more of the calls so I can ensure that things are getting answered to my needs.

Chuck Vose 2010-01-14 16:27:14

+2 A:

Best technology I can suggest is the telephone. You've got to open up direct lines of communication. But I guess you know that and are finding it difficult, someone along the line is not helping. So now you have to tackle that person, find out why not, what their reservations are and how you might allay their fears.

As for software, I recommend that you DO NOT look for a software solution to this sort of problem. Suppose you implement a new trouble-ticketing system for capturing client questions and comments and to feed back your questions and comments to your client. Next time you tackle your management about the issue one of 2 things will happen:

-- The response will be 'But you told us installing system TT would fix this !'

-- There must be something wrong with system TT, we'll divert our energy to fixing the software.

Oh, and do write things down, so email might be even better than the telephone.

Regards

Mark

High Performance Mark 2010-01-14 16:19:30

This is really good advice about the TT system. I had been pondering something like this but it felt icky. I wasn't sure why but everyone seemed to agree that it wouldn't work out well; you just hit the nail on the head better than anyone else.

Chuck Vose 2010-01-14 16:25:39

A trouble ticket/bug tracker program can work as long as ONLY you access it. Instead of writing things down ad hoc or storing everything in email, you use the tracker to ensure there is nothing outstanding when you are near the end of your coding.

jmucchiello 2010-01-14 16:54:38

Oh, and never the phone. EMAIL. You want a written audit trail to avoid "But you told us...." issues.

jmucchiello 2010-01-14 16:57:04

That's a pretty good idea. Would something like Tada lists be sufficient in your opinion or does it need to also have dates or milestones attached? I sorta wish there was something that would track the date the question was entered and remind me when there's something outstanding older than n days. But I haven't found anything like that yet.

Chuck Vose 2010-01-14 16:57:06

Yes you want an audit trail and email is good for that, but you also want human contact with the human at the other end. Face-to-face meetings are an essential first step, then you can have good telephone conversations, then email is effective. But who gives a toss about emails from someone they have never met ? An email from someone I have never met or spoken to on the phone is spam.

High Performance Mark 2010-01-14 17:23:20

Thanks for all the comments. I think that this has given me the most to think about so I'm going to mark it as the answer though I realize that there may not really be an actual best answer. Your High-Performance title is clearly correct :)

Chuck Vose 2010-01-14 17:31:27

+1 A:

I'm sorry, but this doesn't sound like a technological issue. Good project managers ensure communication and should allow you to work directly with the client where necessary. This is a communicaiton/management problem.

David Stratton 2010-01-14 16:19:42

Perhaps so, but sometimes we don't get to have good project managers or for some reason we have to rely on ourselves more than we would in an ideal world. Certainly the problem is not unique to technology, but the solution could have been.

Chuck Vose 2010-01-14 16:24:40

It is a political/social issue. And a difficult one to solve.

Tangurena 2010-01-14 17:42:57

+1 A:

PRINCE2 (the project management methodology) would define your questions as project issues (essentially an issue is anything which needs attention so a question is no different to a software defect).

Based on this I'd recommend tracking them the same way you track any other issue.

In your defect tracking system (you do have one right?) set up a category / classification / whatever "Question" and log them and assign them to either the client (ideally they should be given direct access) or to the Project Manager (who now has a way of tracking them and recording the answers).

As with all issues you should make sure you put in plenty of information and context to ensure you get a good answer (obligatory Jeff / Joel reference: in this case to Jeff's belief that you only get out of a question what you put into it). This will also obviously help if you're not the person actually asking it, though as many people have said do everything you can to get closer to the client.

Jon Hopkins 2010-01-14 16:47:21

If he can't pick up a phone and call the client there's no way the client's going to respond to his bug tracker software.

jmucchiello 2010-01-14 16:56:24

I'm going to have to go look up Prince2. Thank you for the reference.

Chuck Vose 2010-01-14 16:58:01

@jmucchiello - that may be but this way at least all the questions are tracked and the PM understands the situation and sees the extent of the problem. Often the first thing to do with a bad situation is gather enough data to unambiguously show people who don't get exactly how bad it is.

Jon Hopkins 2010-01-14 16:59:49

@Chuck Vose - P2 is something of a can of worms and has an (unfair) reputation for being heavy handed (it's not intrinsically bureaucratic, just most implementations of it are) but there is some good stuff in there. As with everything take what you like, ignore what you don't.

Jon Hopkins 2010-01-14 17:02:06

Heh, thanks for the disclaimer :)

Chuck Vose 2010-01-14 17:29:46

+1 A:

The key point to remember is that people are lazy.

If you formulate questions through e-mail clearly and in format your contact likes, most likely he'll forward them to the next chain of command unchanged and so on.

Some quick tips on how to structure such an e-mail:

Numerate all your questions. Essential, otherwise all too often only the latest question will been answered
Be very specific in what the actual question you need input on is
If there is a fixed set of alternatives or if you have a clear recommendation, make sure this is clearly stated
Avoid mixing FYI messages with the questions. Instead, send separate e-mails
Carefully read your e-mail before you send and look for content that may be misunderstood

Good luck

dparnas 2010-01-14 17:59:11

ansaurus

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