Expectation vs Reality, why you shouldn’t trust your first expectation of your project .

At some point in our lives we have all tried to make a project either to achieve some personal goal or for an academic or work job. Normally when we visualize the project that we are going to carry out, we usually think about how it will be when it is finished, however for different reasons, the project don’t usually finish in the way how we originally proposed them. In this little article I will talk about some of the changes and unforeseen events that may occur in the development of a project, how this can radically change the expectations we have of it and some tips to handle these spontaneous changes in our projects.

First of all we have to define a project as the set of something that we intend to do and for which we establish a mode and a set of necessary means. We can think in a project as if it were a baby, which little by little will go through different stages (such as its planning, development and execution) until the day of his death. A clearer definition of this idea can be seen in the following video:

If we see it from this perspective, when we take care of a baby sometimes we usually imagine what kind of person this will become when it grows, however, no matter how much we are aware of the child we can never know how it will be with certainty until we are at that point. This same phenomenon is the one that is presented in our projects and such as children who may end up developing a different temperament or height than would be expected, the project may suffer from unexpected changes as:

1. Changes in requirements: Many times the original requirements must be modified in advanced stages of the development process. This can affect the project delivery times.
2. Lack of communication between the individuals involved with the project: If in the project is working more than one person, it is normal that there are communication problems or direct conflicts between the different parts and if these are not handled in the appropriate manner, it can influence any delivery of the system.
3. Work overload: Imagine a child who has parents about protectors that don’t allow him to comply with his stages in the right way since they spend on all the time, basically the same thing happens to a project that is dedicated more resources than you need in a predetermined stage.
4. The arrival of new requirements: Sometimes our project is more successful than expected and we add new requirements to improve its potential, and without realizing our project grows exponentially.
5. Mismanagement of resources allocated to the project: The mismanagement of the project resources will demand more resources or a bad project.

Although usually these unexpected situations tend to have relatively simple and practical solutions, many people still have many conflicts trying to resume a course in the development of the project. That’s why I consider it important to share with you a few technique that I have learned to use in Pernix when something seem to change the initial expectations of the project I’m working on:

1. Don’t cling to your first idea: It may sound a little bit absurd, but many times we feel so comfortable with the idea that we have already developed in our head that when we are asked to change it, it is difficult for us to think about a different solution.
2. No matter how absurd your question sound, consult it: In order to develop the project in the best way, we must have our idea of the project as clear as possible, so no matter what many doubt should be covered so that there is no doubt with the requirements.
3. If you are working for someone else, show him updates of the project in order to receive feedback from that person: the earlier your client tell you that you are not doing something well, it’s going to be more easy and cheaper to repair that problem and can prevent future changes.
4. If you think that something can be doing in a better way, don’t be afraid of share your idea: If you know a better way to do something, you don’t lose anything sharing your idea, even if the team don’t accept it in the first try, maybe that idea can be the solution to a future requirement change.

For some of us working in projects it something of our day to day, and is normal that we try to give it the best we can but sometimes things that are out of our control can affect the development process of our project, and probably that changes can affect the final result of the project according to our expectations, but we need to understand that changes are necessary in order to meet the objectives of the project, so the best we can do is front facing that changes with a positive attitude.

References:

Managing project changes

Ciclo de vida de un proyecto

Project life cycle