Recently, I screwed up. On a simple install I set an expectation with a high-profile customer that was completely out of scope. Offline, the engineer and SE let me know the extent of my blunder. It was going to open a black hole of services that we would not get paid for. Crap! What do I do now?
My mind races going through the various scenarios that could ensue.
I could just ignore it and hopes it goes away. But, that is not likely, since the customer now has an expectation that he will be anticipating.
I could throw my hands in the air and quit this job. But that won’t work either. I need the income and I like what I do.
I could pass it up to a higher level to be dealt with. Again, that is not a good solution since I am sure management would not be pleased and besides, I made this problem and I should be the one to fix it.
But how?
We, as PMs, we are charged with leading the project and making sure all of the stakeholders needs are addressed and if possible, satisfied. People expect us to know what we are doing and not to make mistakes. But alas, we are only human and we make mistakes. The more experienced you are the bigger your mistakes are when they happen – and they will happen. I have found that there is only one way to deal with this.
I got on the phone with the customer and explained that I had not understood the simple addition of task that I had said we would do had a lot more baggage attached to it than I had been aware of. There were design and troubleshooting aspects associated with the task that would take us way out of scope and really should be addressed as a separate project. The customer was not happy to hear this but after some discussion he accepted the situation and my apology. The next day on the status call, I explained the situation to the whole team and we are now moving ahead on the simple install within scope.
The fallout from all of this is not as bad as I had thought it might be. In fact, the customer is now seeking more professional services from us to help implement the added scope. Prior to this, he had been looking at doing it on his own.
This experience reminded me of things I have learned over a number of years dealing with customers.
- Don’t let issues fester. Deal with them as soon as possible.
- Honesty is always the best policy.
- Admit to and take ownership when you make a mistake.
- Many times a problem can turn into an opportunity.
Let me know what you have done to deal with mistakes. There are always more than one way to deal with them.