How to manage expectations and prevent ad-hoc tasks derailing a software project

Previously, I talked about beginning a project with a clear product vision and getting buy-in from the whole business.

To successfully deliver the product vision, it’s important to carefully manage the expectations of everyone involved in the project, including senior management, customers, the development team and the wider business.

It’s likely that delivering the product vision will be a medium to long-term project. During this period, you will need to carefully balance the short-term priorities of colleagues who are focusing on individual customer deals, with your responsibility to deliver long-term value to the business.

Don’t be afraid of explaining what you and your team are doing

It’s easy to become consumed with physically implementing a product, and forget that others don’t necessarily understand what you’re working on, why you’re working on it or how close you are to being finished.

Development teams that fail to frequently communicate their priorities are susceptible to having disruptions to their releases. Getting colleagues to understand the value of the teams’ work and how it contributes to the wider vision is the best way to avoid ad-hoc tasks slowing down or derailing the project.

Regardless of the way that a development team works (Kanban, Scrum etc.), it’s essential that open, honest communication is maintained to manage the expectations of the rest of the business.

Signs that things aren’t working

If a stakeholder feels as though their input is not being considered or that progress is too slow, they may:

• Subvert the system to get what they want, by requesting that you work on unrelated or unnecessary features
• Enforce arbitrary deadlines to try and speed things up. This can burn the team out or cause poor quality implementation, just to get a finished product
• Lose sight of the long-term product vision, and start pushing for short-term quick wins

Managing expectations effectively will help to prevent these issues from happening, and support the delivery of the product vision.

Take time to think about how the project is going from the point of view of a colleague or customer. Put yourself in their shoes, always listen to feedback and accept input from the rest of the business, but maintain focus of the wider vision and minimise ad-hoc tasks damaging the flow of the team.

5 simple ways to manage expectations

• Invite key colleagues to your daily stand-up, planning sessions and retrospectives to show them the value of what you’re producing. If they don’t attend, don’t just assume that everything is OK. Go to their desks, drop a message on Slack, confirm that they’re aware of what is being worked on and that they’re happy with progress
• Send a company-wide summary email at the end of every release, to confirm what was achieved, the customer benefits and what’s coming up next. Everyone will value being kept in the loop, even if they don’t say so, and it reinforces that everyone is part of a larger team. Summarise the improvements in plain English bullet points that colleagues in sales and customer support can copy & paste directly into their next email to customers
• If a feature request can’t be implemented immediately, explain why in person. Promise to keep them in the loop and informed of progress, and don’t fob people off by saying it’ll be prioritised in a few months’ time. If it is something that you feel should never be implemented, be honest and say so upfront, and be prepared to explain your reasons why
• Avoid mentioning or committing to specific dates for features or releases, unless you’re 100% sure that you can meet them. As soon as you mention that something will be done by a certain date, it becomes a firm commitment to that person, whether or not it turns out to be possible. Maintain flexibility with your priorities for as long as possible so that you can adapt your work to the most valuable tasks
• Keep releases short and frequent so that progress is continuously visible. Releasing frequently keeps you on the front foot, giving confidence to the sales team and customers that if they have a request, you can act quickly

Next post

So far, I’ve explained how I define the product vision, and techniques for managing expectations to keep delivery on track.

In my next post, I’ll explain how I break a product vision down into frequent, incremental value-based releases, avoiding estimation or arbitrary deadlines.

I’m the founder of tech startup Swiftcomplete.

If you’d like to have a chat about product management, startups or a demo of our innovative search technology, head over to swiftcomplete.com or message me on Twitter @chriswinfielduk or LinkedIn

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