13
votes
Accepted
How do you convince a client that testing is a must?
If you are building a product for a client, your internal testing / QC work is not subject to negotiations. It is part of the work, part of the price, and there is no reduction in that area. If the ...
- 36.5k
12
votes
Accepted
How do you explain to a client that migrating an existing application's database to different one (e.g. from MySQL to MSSQL) is not a trivial task?
Directly and honestly.
By the way, I think, this is a sales and negotiation question:
As far as I understood, you would like to support your customer and maybe earn some money. You would like to do ...
- 1,757
10
votes
When can a project's wrong estimates be justified?
Great project management is not about hitting your targets 100% of the time. Much of our performance is probabilistic where many of the drivers of our results are out of control and very random. ...
- 36.5k
10
votes
How to finance non-programming activities when clients don't want to pay for these activities?
Stop work immediately and get the work under a contract. Get a detailed Statement of Work that clearly identifies what is getting delivered, what activities will take place, what finished looks like, ...
- 36.5k
9
votes
Delays in getting project sign off
In a similar instance when we were facing delays-
We have clarified client about our organization internal structure. In our organization, resources are taken out from one project and given to ...
- 507
9
votes
Dealing with Severe Client Delay
Wow - your cup certainly runneth over with ALL of the usual challenges that software (or any other type of) project teams face - ever increasing backlog, unreasonable customer demands (and poor ...
- 2,105
9
votes
How to finance non-programming activities when clients don't want to pay for these activities?
Stop billing them for the activities they complain about and roll the costs into what they are willing to pay for (deliverables). You're not cheating them--you're not burdening your clients with the ...
- 91
8
votes
Client doesn't agree to put milestone in project scheduling
Here's one source: https://project-management-knowledge.com/definitions/e/external-dependency/
Simply research "external dependencies in project scheduling." Your schedule will simply be ...
- 36.5k
7
votes
How to ask for more time if project misses a milestone and will be delayed?
Project managers manage variances. You will have both favorable and unfavorable ones. It is not a matter of "asking" but rather informing. Planning values that you choose, both cost and time, are ...
- 36.5k
6
votes
How to make realistic long term time estimations when adopting Agile methodology?
Estimate story points and apply a velocity range
Here is the simplistic arithmetic:
You use velocity (in story points) as a measure of how much work you can accomplish in a unit of time (sprint).
...
- 10.9k
6
votes
Accepted
How to deal with client's staff that says "this will be easy"
The first counter to 'this requirement will be easy to deliver' should always be ask politely to list down the risks involved. Such unfounded claims are done by people who want to boast or want to ...
- 224
5
votes
How do you explain to a client that migrating an existing application's database to different one (e.g. from MySQL to MSSQL) is not a trivial task?
Ask them to run this simple prototype:
Copy the existing production DB (in MySQL) to a new test DB (in MS SQL)
Create a test version of the application (in Java)
Connect the test version of the ...
- 414
5
votes
How to make realistic long term time estimations when adopting Agile methodology?
First of all, why are you adopting Agile?
Remember, Agile is a methodology, and as any methodology, is a means to obtain a result. I may be wrong, but if you're expecting Agile to solve all your ...
- 8,236
5
votes
Accepted
What decision should I take regarding a team of front-end developers which delivers unstable releases
Product is currently in beta stage and never been public, only client
team and the team of testers have access to this.
How often is the client checking in? Do you have regular reviews? You want ...
- 4,046
5
votes
Client doesn't agree to put milestone in project scheduling
You're not communicating well with your client
...and possibly also using your schedule incorrectly.
You're asking about milestones as though they were a pure schedule artifact. However, every example ...
- 150
4
votes
When can a project's wrong estimates be justified?
To answer your question a generic sense - ALL estimates are wrong. Whether or not deviations are justifiable (or should be compensated) depends on the 'why' they were wrong.
To address it in a more ...
- 6,761
4
votes
When can a project's wrong estimates be justified?
The Problem
[Are] there any cases...when wrong estimates can be justified?
Estimates are not guarantees. They are "educated guesses" based on experience, historical data, and a set of assumptions. ...
- 47.3k
4
votes
Accepted
What to do when someone says "that is not an acceptable solution"?
I see two (or well, three, if getting a new job counts ;-) ) possible ways to deal with such situations in general:
When you receive a refusal like above: ask for clarification or more explanation, ...
- 1,295
4
votes
What is the best way to include a "refund money" clause in a project agreement?
Firstly, if the company is already developing software for you or if money has already been paid then you are probably too late.
Penalty clauses are fairly common, but you will find that your success ...
- 4,414
4
votes
Accepted
Should I disclose technical constraints and details to the client?
The short answer is yes.
You absolutely want to keep the client informed of limitations or other gotchas in the project. You rarely will know the full story and thus lack the perspective to know if ...
- 12.3k
4
votes
Should I disclose technical constraints and details to the client?
Have a Communications Plan
You appear to be missing a Communications Plan, which is an essential aspect of most projects. This plan would include details such as what your stakeholders need to know ...
- 47.3k
4
votes
Accepted
How to ask for more time if project misses a milestone and will be delayed?
The best way in every circumstance will boil down to understanding your client's perspective - including, but not limited to, the extent to which they value time as compared to cost and quality.
It'...
- 156
4
votes
How to tell a client 'no'
Let them be emotional.
You do risk losing your client because there are many in this game that give away stuff all the time but there are a ton of downstream threats caused by that that negatively ...
- 36.5k
4
votes
Accepted
How to handle client's unrealistic testing results
From a secuirty point of view, input should never be trusted. What's to say that next time it's not an emojji but some kind of textual exploit such as billion laughs attack?
At the end the day, if it ...
- 216
4
votes
How should a Software Tester deal with missed Defects/bugs in Production?
You're describing an immature organization, seemingly political, low performing team, hostile work culture.
There is no such thing as a 100% defect free product or service of any type. And a mature ...
- 36.5k
4
votes
Who pays for the development/maintenance of the components/framework?
In my view, any necessary labor that was exhausted in order to build the finished product or provide a service deliverable would be chargeable to that project as a direct expense. The test would be, ...
- 36.5k
3
votes
Accepted
Should I include the developers in the official email communication with clients?
TL;DR
Should I include the developers in these emails or not?
Increased direct communications, if done effectively, can improve the viability of a project. However, there are often pros and cons ...
- 47.3k
3
votes
Accepted
Managing Internal projects as if the manager was a client. Does this method have a name?
There isn't a project management term for this that I'm aware of. This is generally referred to as a Delegation Management Style. It's considered a very good management technique and the sign of a ...
- 12.3k
3
votes
How to justify integration costs to a client?
You consider the vendor a large risk, which in a fixed price situation means you have to cover it. Your quote is you honest assessment and you'd be foolish to lower it. I hope you've explained your ...
- 1,255
3
votes
How to finance non-programming activities when clients don't want to pay for these activities?
Is the "upper management" your management or theirs?
If yours, you need to have a discussion with them that makes absolutely clear that treating all "non-programming activities" as non-essential ...
- 280
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