Workflow as an important part of a customer agreement
This article was inspired by the excellent article by Danil Snitko “How a good contract saves nerves and a coin . ”
We would like to add to this article that it is very useful to supplement the contract with the so-called Rules for working on a project .
The main purpose of the rules: to avoid problems in the process of working on the site, to make it as effective as possible. Secondary, but also very important, goal: to increase customer satisfaction from work. If the client is informed, he is ready for our requirements, and their presentation will not be a “shock” for him.
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Rules solve the following tasks:
We personally draw up these rules as an annex to the contract. And in this application, we usually describe the following points:
Here we describe, as a rule, three points:
Here it is important to indicate who, on each side, is the representative — the decision maker, whose comments and requests we must take into account, to whom we must report the interim results and generally always put in a copy (read: notify) in correspondence.
If this is not prescribed, a situation often arises when you start to write or call the client’s employees that you’ve never heard of, and ask to do something, fix it, send it to them. And often it is just their initiative, not supported by anything (or supported by personal ambitions, hidden games with the client, and so on). You begin to introduce their remarks, and then it turns out that it was not necessary to do this, or even categorically not.
What to do in this case? Thanks to the rules, we have every right, if this person was not presented to us earlier, to say: “It is very nice to meet you, but we cannot take your comments into work. Please ask your project manager to give them to us. ”
Another problem is when the areas of responsibility of everyone involved in communication are not known . In this case, well-known representatives of the client can write to your designer to correct the code, and to the programmer to change the font color in the header. And you may not know who to ask the source of the logo or to request data about the target audience.
Example:
Communication between the Customer and the Contractor takes place through authorized responsible persons:
Direct appeals to the representatives of the Contractor are not a guide to action, unless it is agreed in this Agreement.
Here we indicate what means of communication we use and why, with the contact information of the people involved in the communication.
Firstly, it is just convenient: you can always see how to contact the performer / client.
Secondly, it organizes: if you write that to discuss the layouts you definitely need a personal meeting (if you are not in different cities - then, for example, a discussion on Skype or by phone will do, in which you can adequately manage the perception of the layouts by the client, most likely it will. And the result will be better.
Example:
In the process of working on the project, the following forms of communication will be used:
The rules of communication make it clear to the client and the contractor that it is necessary to respect each other and be responsible for their actions. And show how.
Example:
Project communication takes place on weekdays from 10 am to 19 pm Moscow time.
Correspondence in e-mail is a documentary confirmation of the agreements reached.
According to the results of personal meetings and telephone conversations that discuss important issues, the Contractor prepares a written summary, which is sent to the Customer by email.
To prevent an increase in the duration of the site creation, Parties are encouraged to respond to the request of the other Party within 1 business day.
This is a very important part that perfectly allows you to understand and organize the workflow in addition to communication. In this section, we describe:
Immediately, I will note that this procedure is explained by the peculiarity of our workflow: it is necessary to approve the results of each stage before the next one, in order to reduce the costs of finalizing the site at any stage.
Some work differently, so the description of your workflow may differ significantly from ours. Be sure to write it in and speak it with the client both verbally and in the “Rules of Work”.
Try to discuss and document , if possible, the details of the workflow before starting work. The client is not aware of the features of the site creation process, but you, on the contrary, know very well how to organize it.
Take the time to educate the client : this will allow you to avoid many problems and increase his satisfaction. In addition, the effect of the learning process is well known: when you teach someone, you test and reinforce your own knowledge.
We would like to add to this article that it is very useful to supplement the contract with the so-called Rules for working on a project .
The main purpose of the rules: to avoid problems in the process of working on the site, to make it as effective as possible. Secondary, but also very important, goal: to increase customer satisfaction from work. If the client is informed, he is ready for our requirements, and their presentation will not be a “shock” for him.
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Rules solve the following tasks:
- Inform the client about the work process: how the work will be done, what will be required of it in the process and when. As a result, we will get a more educated client and the necessary materials for work on time.
- Inform the client about the restrictions that we impose on him in the process of work, so that they are not a surprise for him. As a result, we will get a calmer and more satisfied customer.
- To legally fix the agreement, so that later they can be referred to. If the client is trying to say that the design concept is a built-in HTML prototype, we have something to refer to.
We personally draw up these rules as an annex to the contract. And in this application, we usually describe the following points:
- Interaction: who participates in the project from each side, what are their rights and obligations, how we communicate and according to what rules.
- Algorithm of work: what is done in what sequence, what is the result of each stage, what is required from whom at each stage.
Interaction
Here we describe, as a rule, three points:
- Representatives of the parties
- Means of communication,
- Rules of communication.
Representatives of the parties and their areas of responsibility
Here it is important to indicate who, on each side, is the representative — the decision maker, whose comments and requests we must take into account, to whom we must report the interim results and generally always put in a copy (read: notify) in correspondence.
If this is not prescribed, a situation often arises when you start to write or call the client’s employees that you’ve never heard of, and ask to do something, fix it, send it to them. And often it is just their initiative, not supported by anything (or supported by personal ambitions, hidden games with the client, and so on). You begin to introduce their remarks, and then it turns out that it was not necessary to do this, or even categorically not.
What to do in this case? Thanks to the rules, we have every right, if this person was not presented to us earlier, to say: “It is very nice to meet you, but we cannot take your comments into work. Please ask your project manager to give them to us. ”
Another problem is when the areas of responsibility of everyone involved in communication are not known . In this case, well-known representatives of the client can write to your designer to correct the code, and to the programmer to change the font color in the header. And you may not know who to ask the source of the logo or to request data about the target audience.
Example:
Communication between the Customer and the Contractor takes place through authorized responsible persons:
- From the Contractor: _______________________ (we list all those who will participate in communication and their areas of responsibility).
- From the Customer: __________________________ (we list all those who will participate in communication and their areas of responsibility).
Direct appeals to the representatives of the Contractor are not a guide to action, unless it is agreed in this Agreement.
Means of communication
Here we indicate what means of communication we use and why, with the contact information of the people involved in the communication.
Firstly, it is just convenient: you can always see how to contact the performer / client.
Secondly, it organizes: if you write that to discuss the layouts you definitely need a personal meeting (if you are not in different cities - then, for example, a discussion on Skype or by phone will do, in which you can adequately manage the perception of the layouts by the client, most likely it will. And the result will be better.
Example:
In the process of working on the project, the following forms of communication will be used:
- To discuss the project assignment: personal meetings or telephone + 7-XXX-XXX-XX-XX.
- To discuss design layouts: personal meetings or telephone + 7-XXX-XXX-XX-XX.
- To discuss the results of testing the site: personal meetings or phone + 7-XXX-XXX-XX-XX.
- To discuss the small details, clarify the timing of the provision of interim results, general questions: phone + 7-XXX-XXX-XX-XX, skype YYYYYYYY or email ast@example.ru.
Actually, the rules of communication
The rules of communication make it clear to the client and the contractor that it is necessary to respect each other and be responsible for their actions. And show how.
Example:
Project communication takes place on weekdays from 10 am to 19 pm Moscow time.
Correspondence in e-mail is a documentary confirmation of the agreements reached.
According to the results of personal meetings and telephone conversations that discuss important issues, the Contractor prepares a written summary, which is sent to the Customer by email.
To prevent an increase in the duration of the site creation, Parties are encouraged to respond to the request of the other Party within 1 business day.
Work algorithm
This is a very important part that perfectly allows you to understand and organize the workflow in addition to communication. In this section, we describe:
- What we do and what the result will be - in general and at each stage;
- Approximate dates for each stage and what it depends on;
- What you need from the client at each stage.
- The client is informed and ready to work: you receive all the necessary information and materials on time.
- The client will not have questions like “I approved the layouts, will we launch the site on Monday?” Or “Why can't we draw and program at the same time?”.
Immediately, I will note that this procedure is explained by the peculiarity of our workflow: it is necessary to approve the results of each stage before the next one, in order to reduce the costs of finalizing the site at any stage.
Some work differently, so the description of your workflow may differ significantly from ours. Be sure to write it in and speak it with the client both verbally and in the “Rules of Work”.
Summary
Try to discuss and document , if possible, the details of the workflow before starting work. The client is not aware of the features of the site creation process, but you, on the contrary, know very well how to organize it.
Take the time to educate the client : this will allow you to avoid many problems and increase his satisfaction. In addition, the effect of the learning process is well known: when you teach someone, you test and reinforce your own knowledge.
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/116174/
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