Don't worry; we won't do a lengthy Agile/Scrum lesson here (though we are here if you think you need one!).
Begin with the end in mind
Begin each project with a clear vision of your desired direction and destination, and then continue by flexing your proactive muscles to make things happen.
The following is particularly useful if you are feeling stuck: when in doubt, remember why the client hired Agilytic in the first place.
Use your intuition to ask questions, not to answer them
Part of the scientific method seeks validation of hypothesis rather than landing at a client to dispense the One True Gospel.
Even if you did a very similar project in a comparable company in a similar sector, nothing is guaranteed to repeat itself. Make sure you start with the hypotheses to validate.
Think before you build
In many start-ups, a common way of thinking is that:
a) you know what you need to build
b) you create value by rolling up your proverbial sleeves and coding it yourself
Need a CMS? I'll code it myself. Screw WordPress, or thousands of CMS already established with massive developer communities.
Need B2B information? I'll code it myself. Consider getting a LinkedIn Pro subscription? Nah. That doesn't create value.
You might be well-intentioned (or have an over-sized ego), but you usually don't know what you need to build unless you have carefully studied the context and competitive landscape. You probably aren't creating value by building stuff from scratch.
Beware of destroying value by coding commodity stuff that we could otherwise buy. A quick test to see if you have fallen into this time trap is building something that has nothing to do with our core business and that you could have installed or bought in 20 mins.
Managing your time
Time is a crucial measure because 99% of our revenue derives from time-based services. Being able to deliver on time is therefore fundamental.
- Understand the difference between important and urgent.
- Beware of "scope creep": is what you are doing contributing to the result?
Once again, tools like ClickUp and Harvest should help you deal with your time more clearly. If you feel like you are losing control of your productivity, speak up!
Mind other people's time
If you think your day is busy, ask your colleagues. We all have a lot to do. So, be mindful of your colleague's and clients' time:
- Prepare, and frame it in "Situation/Target/Proposal."
- Assume your colleague's best intent: if she is not replying immediately, she might be busy. Leave her time to respond before trying other communication channels.
About meetings
Not all meetings are evil.
We tend to have a collective post-traumatic stress reaction to previous workplaces with hostile, unnecessary, unproductive, and authoritarian meetings.
That doesn't mean it is all useless. Here are a few pointers to make meetings work,
Before the meeting
- Is a meeting necessary? Or is it because people are not doing what they should be doing in the first place?
- Do you need to be there? Most client-facing projects require your presence. But especially for internal projects, feel free to explain why you think you can sit this one out. But be also prepared to listen to why other people think your presence is essential!
- Who needs to be there? You will have to deal with the occasional client's office politics. Inside Agilytic, we won't be offended if you don't include us in a meeting where we don't add value. Quite the opposite.
- What is the desired outcome? Lay out clearly before each meeting what you intend to accomplish. It can be a decision, reviewing a draft, you name it.
- What is the agenda? How do you intend to allocate the time? Be ambitious but realistic.
- Are there pre-readings required? If a document requires prior reading, be clear about the necessary level of attention, and point towards the essential parts that will likely be the main discussion points.
During the meeting
- As a facilitator, manage time and with authority: if you are in charge, don't be afraid to steer the discussion towards the desired goal. If it means time-boxing topics and (politely) interrupting senior people who like to rant, it is part of the role
- Make notes: never show up empty-handed at a meeting. You never know what you should be remembering or what new action point might fall on your lap. If you take notes on your laptop, it’s OK but don’t drift away from the meeting. You are either lacking at your job or you don't belong in this meeting if you end up sucked into stuff on your PC.
- Try to speak when something needs to be said. Try to hold off from saying something as long as possible. Speaking up when something needs to be said increases productive communication by 10x. Speaking every time you have a thought reduces your impact when you have something important to say. Take the time in your notes to structure your argument for maximum impact.
- Always close with the next steps. Make time to end the meeting with clear actions and responsible individuals. Even if it is not your meeting, ask for clarification if there is no next step.
Your turn to present?
PowerPoints are like kids; we tend to like our own more than the others'.
Don't let overconfidence get the best of you: arrange with a colleague for a dry run for high-stakes presentations.
There is a lot of things to share about presentation skills. You will find great tips on elsewhere on confluence. Don't believe you know it all before you read them.
In terms of visuals, the best way to start is to start from the latest “master deck”. It’s always up to date with the right colors, fonts, and plenty of template slides to make your life easier. Avoid re-using old presentations unless absolutely necessary.
Managing clients
Managing healthy relationships with our clients is all about balance. Balance between familiarity and professionalism. Balance between trust and conflict of interest.
Here are a few things to consider.
- Don't confuse genres: friendly rapport is encouraged, but clients don't make good confidants. Some of our best clients are also friends in real life. That doesn't give us the right to boast, badmouth others, or say anything we would never dare say had the friendship not been there.
- Keep a written record: the best way to prove you are doing a good job is to document your work regularly. Not getting back to an earlier version or meeting notes can come back and bite you. Hard. No matter how friendly the client relationship is, things change, and consultants are often the lightning rod for issue-blaming.
- Summarize decisions in the proper format: we prefer to centralize ours in ClickUp but find the appropriate medium for the job. Some clients will want them in a SharePoint, Trello, or a summary email. Adapt, but never forget to formalize the decisions taken and communicate them to all impacted stakeholders.
- Separate emotions from the job: it is easier said than done, we know. But it is a fact of life that you will not be best friends with everyone. Some clients have cultures that foster management by blame, unnecessary pressure, etc. It is essential to keep a cool head and focus on your job's quality. Remember, you are not alone, and are encouraged to raise any issue with colleagues if you are having trouble adapting to a given environment.
It is not over until it is over
It is usually more fun to start something than to finish it. However, in our business, the way we leave is how clients remember us. Value is not delivered linearly over a project's lifetime but exponentially until we reach the desired results.
So, take great care in the following:
- Document your project "like every day is your last day." Written records help us prove our added value to clients and facilitate handover.
- Make sure you conclude a project with a reminder of the initial goals: "We promised you this, and we delivered you that. What was better than expected, what was below expectations…".
- Highlight times when you exceeded expectations, but don't be afraid to be transparent about potential shortcomings in our delivery. It is much easier to acknowledge weaknesses "our way" than having them framed by someone else.
- Ensure you adequately log/document the project for internal purposes (marketing, follow-up, invoicing, etc.). We build our marketing around case studies; your responsibility is to ensure all the materials (case study, anonymized slides) are ready for your colleagues. The project is not over if you haven't properly finished the internal documentation.
The good news is that we have a project closing checklist/form ready for you, you guessed it, on ClickUp.
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