Project managers discuss the customer's role in delivery

Name: Project managers discuss the customer's role in delivery
Start: 2024-02-23T09:25:27Z
End: 2024-02-23T09:55:27Z

Marie Andersson and Thomas Stene of ProsessPilotene's project office shared their best advice for successful projects with Frode Stenstrøm.

Frode Stenstrøm

Contributor:Marie Andersson

Held: February 23, 20242 min read

In briefShow moreMarie Andersson and Thomas Stene gave concrete advice on how customers can contribute to project success, before, during and after delivery.

Marie Andersson and Thomas Stene gave concrete advice on how customers can contribute to project success, before, during and after delivery.
A clear business case, an engaged project owner and a well-composed steering group were named as the most important prerequisites before kickoff.
During delivery, they recommended a step-by-step approach built around an MVP, clear user stories, and setting aside customer time for testing and retrospectives.
After completion, they pointed to user adoption and evaluating project goals as decisive, since up to 90 percent of learning happens after the initial training.
They listed four common risks customers can directly influence: unclear objectives, lack of management backing, taking on too much at once, and scope creep as the project progresses.

In this 2024 episode of ProsessPodden, Frode Stenstrøm was joined by Marie Andersson and Thomas Stene of ProsessPilotene's project office to discuss how customers can help their own projects succeed. Andersson highlighted a clear, engaged project owner as the single most important factor, while Stene stressed that a well-anchored business case, with clear goals and measurable KPIs, is essential before a project even starts.

The two walked through the whole project lifecycle: a strong kickoff where the customer itself presents the background and goals, a step-by-step approach built around a minimum viable product (MVP) so the team quickly gains experience to steer by, and the customer taking clear ownership of requirements in the form of user stories, plus setting aside time for testing and retrospectives along the way.

Once a project is delivered, they emphasised user adoption, since a solution has no value unless it is actually used, and evaluating whether goals were reached and documenting lessons for future projects. They also recommended establishing a forum for continued development, so the system keeps improving after the vendor's part of the work ends.

Finally, they covered four risks customers have strong influence over: unclear objectives, lack of management backing, being too ambitious about scope at the outset, and the delivery gradually growing beyond what was originally agreed. Their advice was to prioritise hard, actively manage new requests through the project owner, and work in clear iterations rather than promising too much at once.

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Foredragsholdere

Frode Stenstrøm
Gründer og teknologistrateg
Som gründer og teknologistrateg i ProsessPilotene jobber jeg med å hjelpe virksomheter forstå og bruke teknologi som en strategisk kraft for bedre arbeidsprosesser, kundeopplevelser og beslutninger. Rollen kombinerer forretningsutvikling, teknologirådgivning, virksomhetsarkitektur og formidling. Jeg arbeider særlig i skjæringspunktet mellom AI, CRM, digitale plattformer, data, analyse og fremtidens arbeidsliv. En sentral del av rollen er å være brobygger mellom ledelse, fagmiljøer og teknologi. Det handler om å gjøre komplekse teknologiske muligheter forståelige, vurdere hva som faktisk skaper verdi, og bidra til at digitale løsninger blir en naturlig del av hvordan virksomheter jobber. Jeg bruker også rollen til å formidle faktabaserte perspektiver på hvordan AI og teknologi påvirker ledelse, organisasjoner, ansatte og kunder.
Marie Andersson
CRM-Konsulent