Finally you launch a website, the client is over the moon with the way the project went (due to your expert project management) and you have a few celebratory jars down at the local. Life couldn’t be better… until…

Time passes…

Time passes and you’re really benefiting from these new processes you introduced. Projects are running on time, you’re sustaining a healthly cashflow and you even catch yourself finishing early on a Friday, safe in the knowledge that you have everything under control. Then you get an email out of the blue from that client those website launched 6 months ago. Without opening it you know it’s bad from the subject line…

‘A few tweaks to my website’, or ‘I’ve noticed a bug on my website’.

You open the email and surprise surprise it’s from ‘that’ happy client you worked for 6 months ago with a list of 25 changes they want applying to their website!

*Explicit explicit… not fit to print… * f*** s*** b******

‘Unfortunately’ you may be obiliged to carry out these changes because you promised an ‘error free’ website or even a ’100% satisfaction guarantee’ when you initially pitched for the work.

Inevitably this is work you can’t charge for, work you’ll have to squeeze in after work, possibly late on a Friday! So what do you do? Cry? Just do it? Well yes you don’t really have a choice do you.

Learn from your mistake

One thing you can introduce in your contract is a 14 Day Grace Period. A 14 Day Grace Period gives your client 14 days to test their website to the hills, report any bugs and get it exactly how they want it, without incuring additional costs.

The advantages of a 14 Day Grace Period can be

1. Signoff - Giving the client a limited time period in which to report errors back to you enables you to get any changes completed quickly. Once done it can be archived and you can forget about it.
2. Extra revenue – Once the 14 Day Grace Period has elapsed it’s in your right to charge the client for any changes they want making.
3. Stay on schedule – Your current work commitments don’t get affected and you can stay on schedule. Incuring these unforseen changes to old projects can have knock-on effects on current projects.
4. Improve client relationship and retention – These things happen in every project, something gets missed and it needs doing. Laying out the rules at the beginning can help to prevent making a relationship from turning sour. If your client wants something doing on the website they know they have to pay for it.
5. Prevent Scope Creep – Scope creep is hard to prevent, but this at least this enables you to get paid for the extra work you do.

This ’14 Day Grace Period’ can be flexible in duration if you wish but we have always worked to this time frame as it seems to suit both parties best.

Do you enforce a ‘period of allowable changes’?
Do you suffer from clients squeezing extra work out of you for free?
Do you find yourself bending over backwards to service a low value client?

Then let us know, we’d love to hear you stories, and even your solutions if you have any.

Scope creep (also called focus creep, requirement creep, feature creep, and sometimes kitchen sink syndrome) in project management refers to uncontrolled changes in a project’s scope. This phenomenon can occur when the scope of a project is not properly defined, documented, or controlled. It is generally considered a negative occurrence that is to be avoided.

Typically, the scope increase consists of either new products or new features of already approved product designs, without corresponding increases in resources, schedule, or budget. As a result, the project team risks drifting away from its original purpose and scope into unplanned additions. As the scope of a project grows, more tasks must be completed within the budget and schedule originally designed for a smaller set of tasks. Thus, scope creep can result in a project team overrunning its original budget and schedule.

Source: Wikipedia

Write a specification

An important part of any project. Include the features they’re going to get and the features they’re not. We’d recommend a more detailed specification for larger projects and a summary style specification for smaller projects.

Set realistic timescales

In our experience projects can take up to twice as long to complete as you original planned for. Cater for unforeseen factors on top of the estimated project timescales. Meetings, technical delays and general unforeseen circumstances inevitably extend timescales.

Milestones

Large projects require milestones to be implemented. A milestone help a client digest bite sized chunks of a project to cast feedback at that stage to ensure the specification has been adhered to. Staged payments can also be part of these milestones to help cashflow.

Managing eager clients

If a client is constantly on the phone to you, or a member of your development team then this will have knock-on effects to the project timings and the deliverables. Politely advise them that this time would be best spent on the project and to put any RFC’s (Request for Changes) in an email.

Request for Changes (RFC’s)

A major component of Scope Creep is a client micro managing their project. Simply, if it’s not in the specification then tough. If they have changes that can wait, and are extras then instigate a RFC document. At the end of the project, or a milestone, you can assess the RFC document and charge the client extra according to the requests. This saves time, earns you extra revenue and keeps the project on track.

Wrap up

Keep things tight and professional, while being flexible and personal. A client wants that personal touch, you want to get paid. Follow these simple procedures and your professional relationship will prosper.