Ko pa ng isang consultant para sa isang maraming mga taon na ngayon at ang anumang mga karanasan consultant nakakaalam, good communication is one of the key pillars to the successful delivery of a project. Ito ay kaya halata, it’s really almost boring to talk about. This isn’t a post about generic communication. Sa halip, Sumulat ako tungkol sa mas madidilim na bahagi ng komunikasyon — pakikipag masamang balita.

Ito ay napupunta nang hindi sinasabi na nagbibigay sa magandang balita sa mga client ay tapos na lahat ng oras ang, as often as possible. Who doesn’t want to give good news? Who doesn’t like to hear good news?

Sa tingnan ang bahagi, bad news is no fun at all. I have always struggled with this. In the earlier days of my career, Gusto ko ng isang bagay na alam noon ay pilipit na may isang proyekto at sa halip ng pagsabi sa mga client, 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 upang 80 oras na linggo?

Ano ang pinakamahusay na paraan upang mahawakan ang masamang balita? 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 (marahil kalooban), there may be incriminations and accusations and hurt feelings. Pero, kapag emosyon magpalamig, there’s still six weeks left on the project. Six weeks is a good chunk of time. There’s time to adjust plans, baguhin ang mga iskedyul, makapag-bola ang lumiligid sa mga extension ng badyet (suwerte!) and just generally come to grips with the "facts on the ground" and devise a new plan that still results in a successful project.

Case in point: Ako ay nagtatrabaho sa isang proyekto nailalarawan sa pamamagitan ng:

• T&E budget with a capped "Not to exceed" dollar na halaga.
• A "best efforts will be made" pangako upang makapaghatid ng X, Y at Z sa pamamagitan ng proyekto ng pagtatapos.
• Lack of promised key resources on the client side. These resources were not withheld on purpose, nor for any "bad" dahilan, ngunit sila ay ipinagkait.
• A dawning realization as the project passed the half-way point that we were not going to be able to deliver "Z" (higit sa lahat dahil ang ipinangakong mga mapagkukunan ay hindi talagang magagamit).
• Regular status reports and "CYA" dokumentasyon na-back sa amin (ang pagkonsulta koponan) up.
• Mahigpit na pagpapatupad papangunutin koponan sa mga miyembro ng iginuhit mula sa mga organisasyon pagkonsulta (aking kumpanya) at ang client.
• Malayong pamamahala ng koponan, in both a metaphorical and physical sense. The management team was focused on another large enterprise project and due to space constraints, ang pagpapatupad koponan ay makikita sa isang nakahiwalay na gusali sa campus, down a hill and relatively far way from "civilization".

Sa halos anim na linggo iniwan sa badyet proyekto, tayo (ang pagpapatupad koponan) 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" upang makapaghatid ng Z at kahit na nagkaroon kami mahusay na pagbibigay-katarungan para sa nawawalang ang paghahatid … ang kahulihan ay hindi ito na-hinahanap mahusay — hindi namin ay pagpunta sa ihatid Z sa isang hugis ng isang kalidad na gagawing sinuman maipagmamalaki.

Kinikilala ito, naming pinuntahan pamamahala at sinabi sa kanila na ang mga proyekto na badyet ay natupok sa pamamagitan ng isang tiyak na petsa at na kami ay sa problema sa Z.

Isang mini firestorm erupted sa susunod na ilang araw.

Araw 1: Pamamahala ng koponan ng mga tawag sa kanyang mga tauhan para sa isang espesyal na pulong (tayo, ang mga tagapayo ay hindi inanyayahan). 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 "Stockholm Syndrome" ay * talagang * ginamit, ngunit makuha mo ang mga larawan. We’re a tight-knit group, sa wakas, at ang mga tauhan ay nagtatrabaho sa amin consultant araw in at out para sa maraming buwan ngayon.

Araw 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: iskedyul ng pulong na may ganap na pagpapatupad koponan (kabilang ang mga consultant).

Araw 5: Buong koponan natutugunan, 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.

Kung kami ay naghintay lamang hanggang tatlong linggo nanatili, o kahit na mas masahol pa, isa o dalawang linggo, it would have been much different. Instead of a constructive meeting to re-align the project, Gusto namin na-bunot ulat katayuan, parsing the contract and reviewing old emails to justify this or that decision. We would have "won" but is it really "winning" sa kasong ito?

Kaya, kung mayroon kang mabigyan ang masamang balita, give it early. Bad news given late isn’t just bad, ito ay kakila-kilabot.