Every account/project manager knows that one of their greatest challenges is to balance client desires with budgets.  We always endeavor to beat client expectations while maintaining profitability. 

Of course, in any project things can get out of control very quickly and profits can fly out of the window faster than a stock broker during the great Depression.

A certain expectation for scope creep should be built into any project.  A 5% budget allotment is not uncommon to cope with creep. 

We can then help a bit by being sure we set expectations, limits and best practices that tie directly to profitability such as:

  • Limit changes in staff assigned to the effort.
  • Avoid the temptation to add features not specified in the architecture but available in a CMS.
  • Do not let page counts increasing beyond those specified in the contract or approved site map. This is one of the most common paths to overages.
  • Avoid having a Web site that is not completely integrated to the CMS forcing changes by tech or design resources that could otherwise be performed by a producer.
  • Do not perform content entry, editing and formatting of text or images when originally assumed to be performed by the client.
  • Limit additional rounds of design, content or site reviews that can each be expected to add 5% to the cost of a project.
  • Manage delays in schedules, approvals, reviews and other deliverables.

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