As a young project manager starting-out I noticed that
the supplier for the project had recently tendered unsuccessfully for a large
government project in the UK. The tender bid cost £1m. I said to the supplier:
“You must be making a lot of money on the contracts you win, to be able to
offset the costs of those you don’t”
The reply caught me by surprise and shaped the next 20
years as a project and change manager.
The response was: “The bid reflects exactly what your
client asked for and is reasonably priced. The truth is that we know that what the
client asked for is not what they need, and we will make all our profit by
charging them for changes.”
I was sceptical: “But what if a client knew exactly what
they wanted, and had a project manager that ensured you delivered exactly
that?”
The response was simple. “Neither of those circumstances
are likely ever to happen, but if they did we’d make a loss. But there is no
such thing as a client who knows exactly what they need, or a project manager
that is precise with the contract or its management”
Sadly after the elapse of 20 years I have found that to
be consistently true.
Even when a project manager is willing to hold a supplier
to account the client’s requirements are seldom sufficiently well-defined to
provide solid ground. Instead there is debate, discussion, flexibility and
compromise.
What do you think?
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Tim Rogers is an experienced Management Consultant,
Project and Change Leader. He is also Commonwealth Triathlete and World
Championships Rower and a Tutor/Mentor on the Chartered Management Institute.
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