This document discusses various types of challenges that can occur when working with clients and team members on projects. It identifies 7 types of difficult personalities or situations: 1) the person who thinks they know best and does not value others' ideas, 2) the quiet person who does not provide much feedback, 3) the overly technical person who expects all others to have the same level of technical knowledge, 4) the indecisive person who provides many ideas but does not commit to a direction, 5) the person who treats the project as the most important thing and expects constant communication, 6) the overbearing boss who does not accept feedback or input from others, and 7) solutions for dealing with each type of challenge are requested.

3. ● Background
● Different expectations
● Lack of timely feedback from clients and team
members
● Inefficient communication flow: lost in
translation

4. ● Too little time vs too much information
● Technical issues: different levels of technical
fluency
● Differences in character: we are only humans - we may
not like each other

6. I don’t know how it works but let me teach you...:
● knows best
● does not like our ideas
● his/her ideas are the best
● s/he is interrupting
● 1000 messages a day
● s/he changes a lot and expects us to deliver
iterations on time.
What to do?

7. I don’t know much, I like everything:
The A type:
● quiet
● does not say much during meetings
● does not ask too many questions
● does not reply to emails
● is afraid to talk
The B type:
● tons of questions but does not understand our answers
● then does not like it but the feedback comes in late.
What to do?

8. I’m from an IT Crowd:
● very technical
● does programming him/herself or knows a lot about it
● expects similar knowledge from the PM (dev-alike
background)
What to do?

9. I know how to do it, you know how to do it, we both know
so...let’s do it like that. Or not...:
● has plenty of ideas, but likes our ideas too
● thinks his solutions can be better…
● but not necessarily…maybe ours
● does not know what his feedback is
What to do?

10. This project will SAVE the galaxy. It’s OUR life:
● our lives depend on it
● there is nothing else we should do 24/7
● the PM has to be available on Slack all the time...
● if not, the 1st thing in the morning is “can we
SLACK?!Please Slack me...SLACK ME NOW!”
What to do?

11. I’m the boss. I know better. PM is my PA:
● does not want to listen to any suggestions
● gives orders
● does not want feedback
● does not care about iterations much (if s/he changes
it)
● expects 1000 updates a day (call me, call me, mail me)
What to do?