Bainim ina chomhairleoir do a lán de na blianta anois agus mar a fhios ag aon sainchomhairleoir taithí, good communication is one of the key pillars to the successful delivery of a project. Tá sé chomh soiléir, it’s really almost boring to talk about. This isn’t a post about generic communication. Ina áit sin, Tá mé ag scríobh mar gheall ar an taobh dorcha na cumarsáide — cumarsáid a dhéanamh droch-nuacht.
Ní gá a rá go bhfuil ag tabhairt dea-scéal don chliant a rinneadh go léir an t-am, as often as possible. Who doesn’t want to give good news? Who doesn’t like to hear good news?
Ar an taobh smeach, bad news is no fun at all. I have always struggled with this. In the earlier days of my career, Bheadh a fhios agam go raibh rud éigin awry le tionscadal agus in ionad ag insint an cliant, I would work longer hours to try and solve the problem. I would enjoin my team to work harder. It’s a natural enough impulse to think that a super-human effort can save the day. Some times this works, some times it does not. Even when it "works" it’s often a mixed bag. Is the quality of the deliverable really up to spec when key parts have been developed over several 60 go 80 seachtaine uair an chloig?
Cad é an bealach is fearr chun déileáil le droch-nuacht? The answer is: tell it early. Don’t wait until one week before the project budget will be consumed. If you know six weeks out that there simply isn’t enough time to deliver some bit of promised functionality, tell the client right then and there. The client may get upset (is dócha), there may be incriminations and accusations and hurt feelings. Ach, nuair a mothúcháin cool as, there’s still six weeks left on the project. Six weeks is a good chunk of time. There’s time to adjust plans, sceidil athrú, a fháil ar an liathróid rollta ar síntí bhuiséad (luck maith!) and just generally come to grips with the "facts on the ground" and devise a new plan that still results in a successful project.
Cás i bpointe: Tá mé ag obair ar thionscadal arb iad is sainairíonna:
- T&E budget with a capped "Not to exceed" méid Dollar.
- A "best efforts will be made" gealltanas a sheachadadh X, Y agus Z faoi dheireadh tionscadail.
- Lack of promised key resources on the client side. These resources were not withheld on purpose, nor for any "bad" cúis, ach coinníodh siar iad.
- A dawning realization as the project passed the half-way point that we were not going to be able to deliver "Z" (go príomha toisc nach raibh na hacmhainní atá geallta atá ar fáil iarbhír).
- Regular status reports and "CYA" doiciméadú a tacaíocht dúinn (an fhoireann i gcomhairle le) up.
- Fhoireann cur i bhfeidhm go docht knit le comhalta a tarraingíodh as an eagraíocht dul i gcomhairle le (mo chuideachta) agus an cliant.
- Fhoireann bainistíochta i bhfad i gcéin, in both a metaphorical and physical sense. The management team was focused on another large enterprise project and due to space constraints, bhí an fhoireann chun feidhme lonnaithe i bhfoirgneamh ar leith ar an gcampas, down a hill and relatively far way from "civilization".
Le thart ar shé seachtaine fágtha ar an mbuiséad an tionscadail, muid (an fhoireann cur i bhfeidhm) knew that we were trouble. The contract said that we needed to deliver "Z". Even though the project is time & materials and even though we only promised "best efforts" a sheachadadh Z agus cé go raibh muid údar mór do iarraidh a sheachadadh … Is é an líne bun nach raibh sé ag lorg maith — Ní raibh muid ag dul a sheachadadh Z i gcruth ar chaighdeán a bheadh a dhéanamh duine ar bith a bheith bródúil.
Ag aithint seo, Chuaigh muid chuig an mbainistíocht agus dúirt sé leo go mbeadh an buiséad tionscadail a chaitheamh faoi dháta áirithe agus go raibh muid i dtrioblóid le Z.
A firestorm mion erupted thar an lá atá amach romhainn.
Lá 1: Glaonna fhoireann bhainistíochta a fhoireann do chruinniú speisialta (muid, ní na comhairleoirí Tugtar cuireadh). Contracts are printed and handed out to everyone and a line-by-line review ensues. Management puts the staff members on the defensive. I don’t think the phrase "Stócólm Siondróm" Tá * iarbhír * in úsáid, ach gheobhaidh tú an pictiúr. We’re a tight-knit group, tar éis an tsaoil, agus tá an fhoireann ag obair le linn comhairleoirí lá isteach agus amach ar feadh cúpla mí anois.
Lá 2: Management calls another staff meeting. They feel a little better. They want options and ideas for moving forward. They realize there’s still six weeks remaining in the current project budget, which is still a decent bit of time. One of the action items: sceideal cruinniú le foireann cur i bhfeidhm iomlán (lena n-áirítear comhairleoirí).
Lá 5: Buaileann foireann iomlán, constructive meeting ensues and a new achievable plan put into place. Even better, we’ve already begun discussing phase two and the client invites us to prepare proposals for that phase immediately.
Má bhí d'fhan muid go dtí fhan díreach trí seachtaine, nó níos measa fós, ceann amháin nó dhá sheachtain, it would have been much different. Instead of a constructive meeting to re-align the project, ba mhaith linn a bheith ag tarraingt amach tuairiscí stádais, parsing the contract and reviewing old emails to justify this or that decision. We would have "won" but is it really "winning" sa chás seo?
Mar sin,, má tá tú a thabhairt nuacht olc, give it early. Bad news given late isn’t just bad, Tá sé Uafásach.
