Clearly define your deliverable to avoid project drift
As part of my portfolio of professional work, I do a lot of data consulting in the legal and non-profit sectors. This work typically involves analyzing administrative data, extracting information from extensive collections of text documents, and building visualizations and dashboards. I enjoy this work because of the flexibility, opportunities to learn new things, and financial gain. At the same time, data consulting can be challenging. This article discusses how to protect yourself from what I think is the biggest problem across all data consulting projects: Project drift.
Project drift is when the goals and scope of a project change over time. Sometimes project drift starts immediately at the launch of a project. Or the problem emerges slowly and builds over time.
Often, project drift results from your client not having clarity on the problem to be solved. Project drift manifests as a series of exploratory activities that are not leading to a specific deliverable. Sometimes ideas emerge in a project, which leads to requests for new analysis or adding another feature to a dashboard. Some requests are quick and easy, so I don’t mind offering them as a freebie. Other seemingly small requests, such as adding a “button” to filter the data, can be a very time-consuming task.
Project drift has consequences for both the client and the consultant. For the client, it can mean paying for work that doesn’t address the original problem. And for the consultant, it can mean doing a lot more work without receiving appropriate compensation.
If you are interested in data consulting, you need to think strategically about protecting every project — and yourself — against project drift.
Define your deliverable
The best way to avoid project drift is to define the deliverable clearly. Spend as much time as you need to figure out what success looks like to your client. If your client cannot define success, you may not be ready to launch the project. Make a clear connection between the problem they are trying to solve and how your analyses will lead to actionable insights or solutions.
When asked to analyze a data set, be clear about which questions you will answer and how the format. Providing nicely formatted output is a much different deliverable than publication quality graphics or an interactive data visualization. When clarifying the deliverable, be as specific as possible. Know what is needed to bring the project to a close. If your projects never end, you cannot build a sustainable data consulting practice.
Be specific about the deliverable in the contract
One of my biggest rookie mistakes was taking on a data dashboard project with a verbal agreement on the details of the deliverable. Again, be as specific as possible and write everything down. Thus, when you receive additional requests for work that is out of scope, you can bring the conversations back to the written contract rather than trying to recollect the initial agreement.
One way to handle requests is to create a list of the different ideas to ensure your client feels heard. You can discuss how these ideas could be part of a supplemental contract while you redirect the conversation to the actual deliverables.
Create a project timeline
Having a project timeline can help further define the boundaries of your work. By outlining what will be delivered and when you can help manage client expectations. Using a project management tool with the client is an excellent way to ensure transparency in all the work. Many excellent tools exist to serve this purpose. I have become a big fan of Airtable, which has an excellent freemium option. You can use this affiliate link to create an account.
Structured project meetings
Another important way to stay oriented around the deliverables is to have structured project meetings. I like to use the following agenda for all consulting project meetings:
- Review accomplishments since the what progress the last meeting
- Discuss deliverables for the next meeting
- Define who is doing what
- Identify roadblocks that may interfere with the completion of deliverables
- Review other issues as needed
The key is ensuring everybody remains aligned with the project goals and deliverables. As you uncover insights with the data, be cautious about allowing too many discussions about exploring interesting avenues. A significant difference exists between things that are “interesting” and “useful,” — and many of these conversations are not moving you closer to the deliverable.
Autonomy of assistants
I often involve assistants in my projects, giving them opportunities to build data skills working with real-world data. When working with assistants, I have frequent check-ins to ensure we remain on track. Assistants new to working with data can quickly get sidetracked and sometimes pursue activities that are not part of the agreed-upon deliverables. I strongly recommend using real-time communication tools whenever possible when working with assistants. I prefer Slack since that allows me to centralize all my communications across different projects.
Ultimately, successful projects require a high degree of structure. To avoid project drift, you must clearly define the deliverables and actively manage project activities to remain on track.
Clearly define your deliverable to avoid project drift
As part of my portfolio of professional work, I do a lot of data consulting in the legal and non-profit sectors. This work typically involves analyzing administrative data, extracting information from extensive collections of text documents, and building visualizations and dashboards. I enjoy this work because of the flexibility, opportunities to learn new things, and financial gain. At the same time, data consulting can be challenging. This article discusses how to protect yourself from what I think is the biggest problem across all data consulting projects: Project drift.
Project drift is when the goals and scope of a project change over time. Sometimes project drift starts immediately at the launch of a project. Or the problem emerges slowly and builds over time.
Often, project drift results from your client not having clarity on the problem to be solved. Project drift manifests as a series of exploratory activities that are not leading to a specific deliverable. Sometimes ideas emerge in a project, which leads to requests for new analysis or adding another feature to a dashboard. Some requests are quick and easy, so I don’t mind offering them as a freebie. Other seemingly small requests, such as adding a “button” to filter the data, can be a very time-consuming task.
Project drift has consequences for both the client and the consultant. For the client, it can mean paying for work that doesn’t address the original problem. And for the consultant, it can mean doing a lot more work without receiving appropriate compensation.
If you are interested in data consulting, you need to think strategically about protecting every project — and yourself — against project drift.
Define your deliverable
The best way to avoid project drift is to define the deliverable clearly. Spend as much time as you need to figure out what success looks like to your client. If your client cannot define success, you may not be ready to launch the project. Make a clear connection between the problem they are trying to solve and how your analyses will lead to actionable insights or solutions.
When asked to analyze a data set, be clear about which questions you will answer and how the format. Providing nicely formatted output is a much different deliverable than publication quality graphics or an interactive data visualization. When clarifying the deliverable, be as specific as possible. Know what is needed to bring the project to a close. If your projects never end, you cannot build a sustainable data consulting practice.
Be specific about the deliverable in the contract
One of my biggest rookie mistakes was taking on a data dashboard project with a verbal agreement on the details of the deliverable. Again, be as specific as possible and write everything down. Thus, when you receive additional requests for work that is out of scope, you can bring the conversations back to the written contract rather than trying to recollect the initial agreement.
One way to handle requests is to create a list of the different ideas to ensure your client feels heard. You can discuss how these ideas could be part of a supplemental contract while you redirect the conversation to the actual deliverables.
Create a project timeline
Having a project timeline can help further define the boundaries of your work. By outlining what will be delivered and when you can help manage client expectations. Using a project management tool with the client is an excellent way to ensure transparency in all the work. Many excellent tools exist to serve this purpose. I have become a big fan of Airtable, which has an excellent freemium option. You can use this affiliate link to create an account.
Structured project meetings
Another important way to stay oriented around the deliverables is to have structured project meetings. I like to use the following agenda for all consulting project meetings:
- Review accomplishments since the what progress the last meeting
- Discuss deliverables for the next meeting
- Define who is doing what
- Identify roadblocks that may interfere with the completion of deliverables
- Review other issues as needed
The key is ensuring everybody remains aligned with the project goals and deliverables. As you uncover insights with the data, be cautious about allowing too many discussions about exploring interesting avenues. A significant difference exists between things that are “interesting” and “useful,” — and many of these conversations are not moving you closer to the deliverable.
Autonomy of assistants
I often involve assistants in my projects, giving them opportunities to build data skills working with real-world data. When working with assistants, I have frequent check-ins to ensure we remain on track. Assistants new to working with data can quickly get sidetracked and sometimes pursue activities that are not part of the agreed-upon deliverables. I strongly recommend using real-time communication tools whenever possible when working with assistants. I prefer Slack since that allows me to centralize all my communications across different projects.
Ultimately, successful projects require a high degree of structure. To avoid project drift, you must clearly define the deliverables and actively manage project activities to remain on track.