Project management is all about understanding what the client wants and delivering it as expected. To understand, a project business owner or manager must not hesitate to ask questions. Whether you are an IT business project management consultant or company catering to the needs to diverse clients from across industries, here are 5 questions that you must ask your client to achieve success.
What does the business aim to achieve with the project?
Before you accept a business project case, you need to ask the client what they wish to achieve with this project. Every business project has specific requirements and is aimed to achieve a specific goal. Only if you know what the goal is will you be able to create a plan, choose a methodology and use the right resources that will take you through the right path. The biggest risk you would take by not asking this question is working towards with something that no one really wants.
What resources do we have?
Once you know what your goal is, your next question should be about the resources. What resources do you have – manpower, technology, space, and permissions etc to get started with the project? No matter how good your business case plan is, you will not be able to go through with it unless you have the right resources.
What are potential roadblocks to this project?
Every project comes with its set of risks. So what are the possible risks and roadblocks to your project? Learning about them will enable you to develop strategies to get around them or thwart them from preventing your project’s progress. Discuss the possible risks and barriers to the project with the client and always keep them in loop. Sometimes the business owner may have the solutions you need to go around these roadblocks.
What are the methodologies I can apply for this project?
Every business project case is different from the other. Therefore the methods and strategies you use for project development will also differ. The next question should be about what kind of strategies or methodologies you must apply in order to make the project a success.
How does the success or failure of the project affect the business?
This is perhaps the most important question you must ask. There is always a possibility that the project can go awry and fail in achieving the results you expect it to. The question is – can the business afford it? How bad will the consequences be if the project fails? And how can you minimize the damages should the project be unsuccessful.
Obviously, you will not start on such a negative premise, but knowing the consequences the failure of the project has on the business will help you develop a contingency plan that can reduce the losses.
