Managing Client and Stakeholder Expectations for Project Managers (from an IT perspective)

Effective project management begins and ends with maintaining strong stakeholder and client relationships. To be a successful Project Manager, you must understand how to keep your stakeholders and clients engaged and satisfied by properly communicating expectations with them. Possessing a strong understanding of what client service is and how it can impact your project will keep your projects on track.

How You Will Benefit

This course offers key concepts for how to assess and maintain positive client and stakeholder expectations. You will gain insights into why it is important to know the value your business unit brings to the entire organization. Additionally, you will learn how User Experience can impact how your project is viewed by the rest of the organization. These insights are applicable in all project settings but are presented in a fashion which addresses the IT professional's perspective.

What You Will Learn

In this course you will learn critical concepts of client service management including:

• Understanding the challenges of client service and how to combat them
• Controlling conversations with stakeholders to enable productive discussions
• Planning the project to incorporate key User Experience concepts
• Providing excellent client service to both internal and external stakeholders

Who Should Attend

This course is intended for anyone, particularly those in an IT related field, wanting to gain a stronger understanding of how client service can play a role in achieving project success.

Format

Duration / PDU Value

This course has been approved by PMI for 1.5 PDUs.

Outline

Introduction

• Course Overview

Client Service Concepts

• Definition of Client Service
• Client Service Challenges
• Value of Defining Your Business Function
• Understanding Your Clients’ Characteristics

Managing Stakeholder Expectations

• Importance of Controlling the Discussion
• DANCE Expectation Management Framework
  • Define the Issue
  • Agree on What Needs to be Done
  • Negotiate the Final Outcome
  • Complete the Task
  • Ensure the Client is Satisfied

User Experience

• Definition of User Experience
• Importance of Product Quality
• Service Quality Needed
• Documentation and Training Quality
• Multi-Channel Accessibility
• Thought Leadership
• The Client Service Connection

Course Summary