I would like to focus on creating a positive image. Based on the initial information collected, we decide which of our employees can be trusted to represent our company at the first meeting with the client. This is a very important point. For example, if we send an excellent specialist for the first contact, but he has an earring in his ear, a greased-in hairdresser, etc., then the client may look and say: “Screw him!” It happens. Or, for example, a neat guy came in, with a clean cut, in a suit and tie, but a boy of about 20. And the client looked and said: “This is a boy, what should I talk to him about? How to work with them - they don’t respect me at all, they sent me a boy!” Therefore, collecting this information is necessary, among other things, in order to understand who to entrust the first contact with and how to behave to the contactee, how to build a legend, how to present yourself.

Identifying decision makers

The next very important question is identifying the actual decision makers(the so-called decision makers). This stage consists of two points:

• It turns out, who makes decisions according to our project.
• And the second point - persons influencing the decision maker are identified.
  What does it mean? For example, it is known that decisions in a company are made by the CEO, and he also has a financial director and an accountant. This could be an accountant who does everything the director says and sits quietly in a corner, or maybe vice versa, an accountant who tells the director that this is what needs to be done and the director listens to him. And if we initially identified that this person has influence on his director, then this is our trump card, therefore, we need to try to establish a relationship with this particular accountant. I conventionally said that this is an accountant - he could be anyone (for example, the head of the sales department or some deputy who is completely trusted by the general director or owner of the company). It is necessary to establish a relationship with the person who influences the decision maker.

The goal, as you can already see, is to identify the decision maker. And the result is a list of decision makers and persons influencing the decision maker.

Our experience shows that you need to try to meet with decision makers as quickly as possible- usually they are either senior management or the owner of the company. This does not have to happen at the first contact, but if such a meeting does not occur at the preliminary stage, then, as a rule, nothing good will come of our project.

Establishing partnerships

Next stage - establishing partnerships.

• We initially do emphasis on two-way responsibility: even in the contract, if possible, we specify not the Customer-Executor, but “ First side"(this is the Customer) and " Second side"(this is the Performer). True, sometimes some large government agencies say that the legal department does not allow them to do this, because the documents are checked by the Treasury, the Ministry of Finance, and others. In this case, we prescribe standard wording - “Customer and Contractor”. But if possible, then - “First” and “Second Side”.
• We are trying our best to convey that this is a joint effort. Leaders on both sides act as high-level contracting parties - they were the ones who decided to do this automation project. To implement this project they recruit a team consisting of How of the employees of the first parties, such of the employees second side- this is the so-called “ Joint Working Group”, which makes the project. Naturally, each party invests its own resources in the project: material, technological, methodological, financial - because, in general, we are talking about quite large projects.
• Supervises the work of the joint working group« Joint Supervisory Commission"- This is the highest regulatory body, usually consisting of top management from both parties.
• AND the responsibility of each party is signed so that the customer’s employees understand that not only we, but also they are responsible for the project. We spend a lot of effort and time to convey to the client that we are doing this project together with his employees, and that their work directly depends on the quality and especially on what time frame the project will be completed.

Well result this stage is a fixation(formal or informal) relations equal partners:

• Formal fixation is an agreement.
• And the informal one can be some kind of official documents, in which we always try to prescribe the “First and Second Parties” and their relationships.

Informing the Customer about the project technology

The next stage is informing the customer about the technology.

• On large projects we, without fail, have “ Course of lectures and seminars on introduction to design technology" In this course of lectures, we convey to the customer’s employees how the entire project process will take place:
  • How is a project made using our technology?
  • Who is responsible for what?
  • Who's doing what?
  • Why are certain actions being done?
  • Why is this or that document needed? What does it give to both sides? (to make it clear to employees that partnerships provide benefits not only to us, but also to the customer).
  • At every opportunity we We inform the decision maker about all problems that arise during the work. For this, we have a number of special daily documents - for example, the “Contact Diary” or the “Deviation List”. And even if not every day, but every few days the customer’s management should get acquainted with them. And since, as a rule, excuses are immediately found: I was busy, didn’t read, etc., then, accordingly, it is necessary to constantly remind about this, maybe even simulate some situations that force management to read these documents.

The result of this stage is that all responsible persons of the customer have completed a course of lectures and, most importantly, that management has a clear understanding of how the work is carried out (of course, if it controls the project quite tightly).

Organization of relations with the Customer

The next stage is the organization of relations with the Customer. Here I want to tell you about one interesting “trick”: on the project we have such roles (these are not positions, but roles) such as “Contract Manager” and “Object Manager” (most often they can also be combined and with some other responsibilities). As stated here on the slide, these roles correspond to the definitions of “bad” and “good.”

• Contract manager- this is “bad”. This could be an individual or one of the top managers. Most often, the function of a contract manager is performed by the project manager (if he is, of course, able to do so). This is the “No” person - he can come to the decision maker and say: “our contract says this, but you are now doing it differently, and because of this, a deviation arises. Let's figure it out." He always points out shortcomings, non-compliance with technology, encourages compliance with documentation- that’s why he’s always “bad.”
• A object manager- this one good". This is a person who, for various reasons, has developed a good relationship with the decision maker of the customer. Maybe he just happened to like him. Or, for example, they have some kind of connections (family, clan, friendship - whatever). The main thing is that the client is attracted to him.
  Our object manager actually manages this object. Please note, this is not a project manager, this is a special person who is engaged in maintains good relationships with customer management, and when some acute problems arise, he smoothes them out.
  For example, after the contract manager has reprimanded the client about non-compliance with some terms of our agreements (this may end, in general, in some kind of unpleasant conversation for us), the facility manager comes and begins to reassure the client.
  It’s not for nothing that I said that the object manager is called “good”. They usually say that being a “nice guy” is not a profession. But this is our profession. The facility manager is the “good guy.” He may not be a professional specialist in anything, but the client feels good with him - he came, talked to him (maybe about politics, football, etc.), and the client felt good, his attitude changed. Before this, the client was going to reprimand us for something, to punish us for something, but now he already understands everything, he is generally uncomfortable speaking badly to us.
  This is the object manager function. It is assigned to every sufficiently serious client.

Of course, everything I’m talking about requires certain resources and costs. And, naturally, it makes no sense to create this entire structure for the sake of a small store - this is all done only for the sake of fairly large objects.

The result of this stage is the appointment of suitable contract and facility managers for a given client, because it is very important to select these people correctly.

Organization of project processes

The next stage is organization of project processes. In my opinion, there are only two of them:

• Project progress monitoring;
• And making management decisions based on monitoring results.

The most important thing is to convince the customer to work using our technology. This work procedure is explained to the customer both in personal conversations with decision makers and when responsible employees attend a lecture course (it explains how and what will happen on the project - the customer’s employees must attend this course, against signature).

Sometimes it can be very difficult to convince a customer to work using our technology. For example, we had one client - a very large IT company. Moreover, she herself was involved in automation on MS Navision, but for certain reasons she decided to call us to automate them on 1C. So, working with them was a real nightmare - everyone cried, both managers and programmers. Because it was a very large company (we are small compared to them), and they thought that they knew everything and tried to teach us. They constantly said: “guys, you’re doing everything wrong, there’s such and such a technology, you should do it this way.” Naturally, this happened only at the middle management level, the manager (who was the main owner and CEO of the company), of course, understood everything perfectly, and after his intervention everything was decided, but it was very difficult to get hold of him. And at the middle management level there were constant problems, constant attempts to teach.

We are on every project, without fail, We try to convey to the client the idea that in his business he is a professional (and we, naturally, do not interfere), but in matters of automation, we are professionals, so we need to be trusted and not try to tell us what and how to do.

Moreover, if they don’t just tell us, but try to force us: “let’s do it differently, because I want it that way.” These are the things we immediately try to stop. Of course, “stop” is a loud word, at least try to explain it quite gently. If we agreed to this project, decided that we were happy with it, got involved in this “battle,” then now, naturally, we have to work with it.

The next stage is Limiting the client's wishes limiting the client's wishes

• . Everyone has probably encountered this (when the so-called “wants” begin - more, more and more). Here we do it quite simply: For example, when a client says that this and that still need to be done within the allotted budget and time frame, then sometimes quite complicated things begin. procedure explaining how it all works
  Or if the client delays the project, then both our people and his people are idle, and they are paid money. Where to get these resources? Not to mention the fact that these people not only receive a salary, but also bring some kind of profit to the company. Naturally, the company does not want to lose this profit. It is explained to the client in sufficient detail, and the client usually reacts very well.
• We make it clear We provide a detailed digital layout- where, what, to the last penny. And we say that if you want us to do this too, then please it will take so many hours and you have to pay for them. In the end, the client agrees with us and either refuses his “wants” or pays for additional hours. Of course, it happens in different ways - I’m now idealizing the picture a little.

Here I want to give another example of relationships. We worked with one very large company (they were already at the maintenance stage), and there periodically some tasks for improvements arose: for example, to make some kind of sophisticated report or something else. And so, the chief accountant of the company assigned us certain work, and we did it. And when the time came to pay, he said: “In general, I was mistaken, we don’t need all this at all.” But the work was done, therefore, it was necessary to pay. And he says: “No, I won’t pay for it, I can’t go to the president of the company and tell him that I’m a fool and ordered the wrong thing.” Moreover, the company was a very large oil company, the relationship was good both with it and with this person. And we didn’t insist - if he doesn’t pay, he doesn’t pay. Although, because of this, we lost a fairly large amount of money for us at that time (this was 2004). At the end of the year there was a denomination (the Azerbaijani manat dropped zeros). And for all clients who were in our service, we did this recalculation as a matter of routine - no additional money. But we approached this accountant (at that time, literally less than a year had passed since that incident), and said: “Remember, you didn’t pay us? Then we met you halfway. And now - denomination. Let's do this for free?" No questions asked - we issued an invoice, he paid.

Why did I give this example? On the importance of good relationships. If we had then stood up on our hind legs and demanded that this amount be paid to us, we would have risked losing a good client. And so we maintained our relationship with him.

Who is responsible for explaining this budget?:

• This in the way of business; in the regular course of work is engaged Project Manager- head of the joint working group, which, in fact, implements the project.
• If he doesn’t succeed, then he connects contract manager, who explains by numbers and says that this is breach of contract, breach of agreement.
• In the most difficult cases connects object manager, who tries to explain (of course, without any strict framework) to the customer why he needs to limit his desires.

Usually, if the numbers are described in great detail, then this layout and its explanation is sufficient.

Delivery of work

Delivery of work. Here, in general, there are usually no big problems, because Our work delivery procedure is spelled out in great detail in relevant documents.

But at this stage there is an element of informality ( good attitude), of course also makes life easier for both us and the customer Same.

The purpose of this stage is to achieve the delivery of work in full compliance with the rules established in the relevant documents, which are annexed to the contract signed by both the client and us. Accordingly, one can always present that there are such rules.

Post-project relationships

And finally, post-project relationships. This is also a very important component. What should we strive for at the end of the project? By concluding a service contract, of course. But this doesn't always happen. Because there is the concept of “result”, and there is the concept of “outcome” - and these are slightly different things.

Let me give you an example. We had a project with one very serious company, and the result on that project was brilliant for us - it was one of those rare cases when we completely met both the budget and on time, absolutely as originally planned. This was the result. And the result of the project was that the service agreement was not signed. Moreover, the customer said that he would never work with us again. This is the result. In other words, the result is brilliant, but the outcome is very sad.

Why did this happen? Because there were no informal relationships. At that time, we had just developed our design documentation technology, and this was the client where all this technology was demonstrated in its full glory. And when we asked the customer: “Okay, you won’t work with us - are there any complaints against us?” And we were told through clenched teeth angrily: “That’s the problem, we can’t make any claims - no matter what you say, you have a piece of paper for everything, and we can’t do anything. We are not happy with this, and we will not work with you anymore. Other companies can be asked to do something additional, but you refuse - this is your budget, this is what you are supposed to do, this is the deadline. Step to the side - and you immediately show us a piece of paper with our signature.”

Therefore, the result was sad. But I emphasize once again that this result was due to the fact that there were no informal relationships.

This article was written based on a report given by the author at the Infostart IE 2014 Conference on October 29-31, 2014.

We invite you to a new conference.

Today, the process of creating complex software applications cannot be imagined without dividing it into life cycle stages. By the life cycle of a program we mean a set of stages:

• Analysis of the subject area and creation of technical specifications (interaction with the customer)
• Designing the program structure
• Coding (set of program code according to project documentation)
• Testing and Debugging
• Implementation of the program
• Program support
• Disposal

Let's look at the types of diagrams for visualizing the model (this is a must have, although there are many more types):

Use case diagram

class diagram

statechart diagram

Sequence diagram

Collaboration diagram

Component diagram

Deployment diagram

This concludes our overview of diagrams in particular and design in general. It is worth noting that the design process has long become a standard for software development, but often you have to deal with a superbly written program, which, due to the lack of normal documentation, becomes overgrown with unnecessary side functionality, crutches, becomes cumbersome and loses its former quality. =(

I am convinced that a programmer is first and foremost a coder - he should NOT communicate with the customer, should NOT think about the architecture of the system, should not invent an interface to the program, he should only code - implement algorithms, functionality, appearance, usability, but nothing more …. The designer must, starting from abstract diagrams (describing the subject area) to diagrams representing the structure of data, classes and processes of their interaction, describe everything in detail step by step. That is, the complexity of the work and the salary of a designer should be an order of magnitude higher than that of a programmer == coder. Sorry for the sedition....

Great events. Technologies and practice of event management. Shumovich Alexander Vyacheslavovich

Procedures for interaction with Clients

During the preparation and implementation of the event, you will encounter certain standard situations in interaction with Clients. Practice these typical procedures. This is a technological moment, and here you must work like a well-oiled conveyor belt, according to a clear algorithm. Standard situations can be considered:

– registration, confirmation of participation. Think about it in detail How The client can communicate his decision to participate in your event (mail, telephone, fax, website, in person) and with what(questionnaire, call, buying a ticket...);

– actions after registration. Report your actions to the Client. Should you send him confirmation? Should (when and how) be reminded about the event? Practice internal actions: compiling lists of participants, maintaining a database. Depending on incoming data on the number and composition of participants, adjust your plans and actions;

– reminders. They may well forget about the event or set priorities differently by canceling participation. In this case, a reminder will serve you well. You will either return an almost lost Client, or find out that he will not come, and you will be able to make adjustments to your plans. This procedure requires precision, consistency and accuracy on your part. Always call back when promised. However, don't be intrusive;

– failure or replacement. Since we are dealing with a service, our Clients may change their mind about participating in the event. Practice the procedure for canceling or replacing a participant. If a participant is replaced, make changes to the database in a timely manner. In case of cancellation of participation, return the money if the conditions agreed upon during registration are met. This is also an important point: refusing to return the money at an early stage can harm your relationship, and the Client will not want to work with you in the future. On the other hand, there comes a time when you have already made the necessary expenses and, having learned about the refusal to participate, you cannot change anything. Let your Clients be informed about this, let them understand your position;

Cancellation received later than one week before the event will not provide a refund. A participant can be replaced at any time. Please inform us of these changes in writing.

(Text from Eventum booklet)

– special procedures. Consider what special situations and special relationships you may have with the Client. Let's say, special conditions of participation for a certain category (for example, for regular Clients or, conversely, participating for the first time).

“If you would like to send a group of employees to the event, we will be happy to discuss special conditions and provide you with a discount.

If you prefer to get to the boarding house yourself, please inform us about this and provide the number of your car."

Accountability Criteria and Procedures From the material we have reviewed in this chapter, it can be concluded that there is an urgent need for procedures that:1. Enable civil servants to take collective responsibility for: – improvement