2 weeks of planning,
2 months of requirements gathering and use cases,
1 month of creating quotes,
Customer's face after getting the quotes,
PRICELESS.
When a customer is telling the analyst or product manager they need all 10 use cases, you should tell them no. I do not want your money this bad. I want you to have a better product that is a good return on your investment.
Your customer wants 10 use cases or features which make up a project or theme. Talk them into only doing the top 3 or 4 features in their priority list FIRST. Only do the requirements for these features. Only do a quote or budget for these features, especially if these features are complex. Stress the point FIRST so they understand, they can do the others next.
More often than not, you will not implement most of the remaining features and the first 3 or 4 will be better than originally expected.
One project we spent almost 2 months gather and refining requirements. This was for an existing complex system that no one completely knew. No one could get their mind around all the changes so they kept changing.
Every time the customer saw them, they changed. "We really need this..."
Every time the developers saw them, they changed. "It does not work that way."
Every time the designer saw them, they changed. "It should look this way."
Even worse, the final quotes were above the customers budget so they asked us to cut stuff. We recommended they cut some features that could be accomplished other ways and some that had very little return on their money. This was a good lesson for the team and customer.
A leader is obligated to stand up and explain to the customer why developing too many features at once is difficult, wait impossible. Focus on a few features at a time. If the client will not listen, then do it their way but negotiate the number of features down to something reasonable.
2 months of requirements gathering and use cases,
1 month of creating quotes,
Customer's face after getting the quotes,
PRICELESS.
When a customer is telling the analyst or product manager they need all 10 use cases, you should tell them no. I do not want your money this bad. I want you to have a better product that is a good return on your investment.
Your customer wants 10 use cases or features which make up a project or theme. Talk them into only doing the top 3 or 4 features in their priority list FIRST. Only do the requirements for these features. Only do a quote or budget for these features, especially if these features are complex. Stress the point FIRST so they understand, they can do the others next.
More often than not, you will not implement most of the remaining features and the first 3 or 4 will be better than originally expected.
One project we spent almost 2 months gather and refining requirements. This was for an existing complex system that no one completely knew. No one could get their mind around all the changes so they kept changing.
Every time the customer saw them, they changed. "We really need this..."
Every time the developers saw them, they changed. "It does not work that way."
Every time the designer saw them, they changed. "It should look this way."
Even worse, the final quotes were above the customers budget so they asked us to cut stuff. We recommended they cut some features that could be accomplished other ways and some that had very little return on their money. This was a good lesson for the team and customer.
A leader is obligated to stand up and explain to the customer why developing too many features at once is difficult, wait impossible. Focus on a few features at a time. If the client will not listen, then do it their way but negotiate the number of features down to something reasonable.
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