Project Management (PM) is the field of task management and incremental implementation of targeted goals. It uses tools and techniques to achieve effective results (Stair & Reynolds, 2016). For this purpose, managers create teams to which tasks are delegated and executed based on a plan with an analysis of current market trends. Among the areas of PM practice, user expectation management activities stand out. Project managers set project resources and development so that the final product meets user expectations.
User expectation is a set of all potential and existing customers’ views about the project to be implemented. This is one factor that shapes and organizes the future project because it directly impacts the adoption of the project. Consumers somehow know the details of the project and have a vision of how it will be implemented and whether it will be helpful to them personally. For example, consumers understand whether the project will be successful but offer their ideas to the project manager (Stair & Reynolds, 2016). Meeting their expectations means giving them an interview or an audience to hear their wishes and take note: remove an element or change the PR campaign.
Consumers’ perception of the result is one of the parameters that should concern project managers. Triyeh points out that customer orientation should add to other PM variables: price, quality, and time (Triyeh, 2018). They point out that project managers should identify their customers and change policies if their satisfaction with the project is low. To increase customer loyalty to the project, they recommend metric tools to improve product or delivery (Triyeh, 2018). In particular, consistent communication and trust toward one’s project promote understanding and flexible project transformation.
The project manager’s task is to connect user expectations with existing goals and determine if there is a gap. For example, consumers expect to be able to track the status of a product and watch it grow. However, managers have not established a product release date or PR campaign; consequently, potential users turn away from a product that has not yet been released (Stair & Reynolds, 2016). To avoid such situations, project managers must use strategic plans on how and to what extent they provide their products to customers. In particular, communication and emotional intelligence are recommended for this purpose. Pirvu notes that EI allows the business to be sustainable and flourish in the eyes of sponsors and customers because they will imagine what they will give money for (Pirvu, 2020). EI will solve the problem of ineffective leadership and gaps in alignment between the organization’s desire and the consumer.
Soft skills are the category of skills that allow managers to manage project satisfaction. They consist of the demonstration and openness of the project manager, his ability to keep in touch with consumers, and the fulfillment of his promises. Uzunkaya points out that consumer expectations are influenced by how the product is presented: performance expectations must match price and quality to be explained (Uzunkaya, 2020). Uzunkaya’s study also found that performance expectations have the most significant impact on final project satisfaction.
Thus, project management is a system in which it is necessary to achieve an organic interaction between customers and the organization’s resources. User expectation is one of the variables that have the greatest impact on the project’s final result. It has been found that it can be managed if the other variables (price, time, and quality) are reasonable and worth the expectation. In addition, product demonstration at its stages, a good PR campaign, and two-way communication with customers and consumers increase the chances of project benefits. In particular, soft skills – such as the emotional intelligence of project managers – help with this.
References
Pirvu, C. (2020). Emotional intelligence – a catalyst for sustainability in modern business.Theoretical and Empirical Researches in Urban Management, 15(4), 60–69.
Stair, R. & Reynolds, G. (2016). Strategic planning and project management. In Principles of Information Systems (pp. 456-501). Boston, USA: Cengage Learning.
Triyeh, N. (2018). The Importance of Customer Focus in Project Management. PM World Journal, 7(10).
Uzunkaya, T. (2020). Relationship between the customer expectations from websites’ performance and e-wom: a study on sport shoes brands.Research Journal of Business and Management (RJBM), 7(2), 80-94.