Communication with the customer

 Overview

Communication with the customer is one of the main aspects of a successful project. It is very important for the communication to be agile, straight to the point and on a truthful basis. Since we are professionals, there will be implemented certain flows in order to make this process more correct from a professional point of view.

Communication flow

• All communications with the customer must take place in slack and via email (call meetings must be taken in zoom so there would  be a possibility to record it)

• After each call with the customer, there should be an email follow up with the bullet points discussed (template will be prepared and linked here)

• Since we are aiming for less documents to be and all in one place, there will be a document implemented( will be linked here), where all of the main info aspects of the projects remain, such as – primal estimation, communication map with the stakeholder, list of developers, change request/bugs document, questions and answers.

• Of course the project passport will remain in Jira, however this document will be shared with the customer.

• The change requests will be estimated one by one and added by the customer along with the description. After confirmation from the customer  – we will take it into work (this sprint or the next)

• All important decisions must be traced in an email. It is a 100% must. All agreed new changes/new requests with the hours especially. They are also to be added to the Project space as an update.

• All change requests from the customer are to be informed to the team.

• All calls must be in the calendar scheduled with all of the required participants

• Never have a customer wait. Provide updates to this or that task before the customer asks you. Make sure that if you promise update within a specific period of time, provide it. Even if the task is still in progress.

• Whenever the customer writes a message, and there is no time to reply, add the eyes sign – this will mean that you have seen the message and will reply within a couple of hours.
  Always reply to the customer`s message within a small period of time (1-2 hours max, better immediately) – in this case the customer will see that the message has been received

• if the sprint is one week, a report must be sent to the customer – worked tasks and hours(hours are optionally). If the sprint is 2 weeks, then such report is to be sent once in 2 weeks after sprint ends.

• Every two weeks, on Friday`s, a report with updates should be sent to the customer. What was worked, what issues happened along the way (optional), what are the plans for the next two weeks.
  It should be done via email only.

 Tips and tricks


Here are some tips

• Never promise a customer something that you are not 100% sure of

• If there is something urgent required by the customer, and you are not sure if it is possible, or need a tip, always check with your PMO

• Always take responsibility for any action or any promise you give to the customer.

• RECOMMENDATION: Do your best to become friends with the customer, it will help a lot in the Future

• Be always proactive, update the customer every hour for an urgent task if it is even in progress still.