By building true partnership with our clients, we ease the burden of managing expectations. We replace that burden with transparency and honesty, but it's not enough to simply be 100% transparent. In this talk, a more nuanced and strategic approach to building partnership with clients is described.

1. MANAGING EXPECTATIONS
Building True Partnership With Clients

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True
Partnership
When Things
Go Wrong
Intuitive
Estimation

5. PARTNERS HAVE 100% TRUST IN EACH OTHER

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PARTERS HAVE PERFECTLY ALIGNED GOALS

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PARTNERS SHARE THE SAME EMOTIONS

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True
Partnership
When Things
Go Wrong
Intuitive
Estimation

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INTUITION:
1.the ability to understand
something immediately,
without the need for
conscious reasoning.
2.a thing that one knows or
considers likely from
instinctive feeling rather than
conscious reasoning.

10. 1. Create Space Invaders in JavaScript
2. Convert wordpress theme to drupal.
3. Build an html5 ftp client
4. Port Minecraft to Oculus Rift
5. Rebuild Facebook, from scratch.
______ PEOPLE x ______ WEEKS/MONTHS

11. E-COMMERCE SITE:
- 12,000 products
- Complex taxes in 12 countries
- Integration with Amazon/Google
- Integration with help desk software
- Integration with inventory system
- Loyalty Program
- Must support 3 languages

13. STEP 1: Traditional Hourly Breakdown
hourly breakdown estimate: 3,840 hours

14. •SUCCESSFUL, ORGANIZED BUSINESS
•NO EXPERIENCE WITH E-COMMERCE
•LOST THEIR CTO, THEY ARE HIRING FOR A NEW ONE
•INTEGRATION WITH HOMEGROWN INVENTORY SYSTEM
•HAD UNREALISTIC DATE EXPECTATIONS AT FIRST
•GOOD SPECIFICATION, AUTHOR LEFT THE COMPANY
•MARKETING PERSON TO BE MAIN POINT OF CONTACT
•PREVIOUS BAD EXPERIENCE WITH OFFSHORE DEV
STEP 2: Determine Client Quality

15. •SUCCESSFUL, ORGANIZED BUSINESS
•NO EXPERIENCE WITH E-COMMERCE
•NO CTO, THEY ARE HIRING FOR A NEW ONE
•INTEGRATION WITH HOMEGROWN INVENTORY SYSTEM
•HAD UNREALISTIC DATE EXPECTATIONS AT FIRST
•GOOD SPECIFICATION, AUTHOR LEFT THE COMPANY
•MARKETING PERSON TO BE MAIN POINT OF CONTACT
•PREVIOUS BAD EXPERIENCE WITH OFFSHORE DEV
1: PERFECT CLIENT
HELPS SOLVE
PROBLEMS, ALWAYS
ON TIME, FLEXIBLE,
FOCUSED, EFFICIENT.
10:NIGHTMARE
CONSTANT CHANGES,
UNREALISTIC,
BLAMES EVERYTHING
ON TEAM.
STEP 2: Determine Client Quality

16. STEP 2: Determine Client Quality
•SUCCESSFUL, ORGANIZED BUSINESS
•NO EXPERIENCE WITH E-COMMERCE
•LOST THEIR CTO, THEY ARE HIRING FOR A NEW ONE
•INTEGRATION WITH HOMEGROWN INVENTORY SYSTEM
•HAD UNREALISTIC DATE EXPECTATIONS AT FIRST
•GOOD SPECIFICATION, AUTHOR LEFT THE COMPANY
•MARKETING PERSON TO BE MAIN POINT OF CONTACT
•PREVIOUS BAD EXPERIENCE WITH OFFSHORE DEV

17. hourly breakdown estimate: 3,840 hours
client quality: 4
STEP 2: Determine Client Quality

18. STEP 3: Predict Total Duration
______ PEOPLE x ______ MONTHS

19. E-COMMERCE SITE:
- 12,000 products
- Complex taxes in 12 countries
- Integration with Amazon/Google
- Integration with help desk software
- Integration with inventory system
- Loyalty Program
- Must support 3 languages

20. STEP 3: Predict Total Duration
4 PEOPLE x 11 MONTHS

21. 4 people x 11 months = 7040 hours
STEP 4: Calculate Hours from Estimated Duration

22. hourly breakdown estimate: 3,840 hours
client quality: 4
duration estimate: 4 x 11 mos
hours based on duration: 7040 hours
STEP 5: Put It All Together

23. STEP 5: Put It All Together
developer grind: medium
client funding: excellent
client team churn: high
hourly breakdown estimate: 3,840 hours
client quality: 4
duration estimate: 4 x 11 mos
hours based on duration: 6400 hours

24. THIS ISN’T GOING TO BE EASY

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True
Partnership
When Things
Go Wrong
Intuitive
Estimation

26. WHAT ARE THEY DOING RIGHT NOW?

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• BE ON TIME
• QUICK UDATE
• INCREASE EFFORT
• NEXT CONTACT

28. WHAT THE CLIENT REMEMBERS

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}Thank You!