[234] in magellan
Notes from today's meeting: July 15, 1999
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Greg Anderson)
Thu Jul 15 17:06:26 1999
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Date: Thu, 15 Jul 1999 17:06:17 -0400
To: magellan@mit.edu
From: Greg Anderson <ganderso@MIT.EDU>
This are the white board notes from our discussion today:
TOPIC: Forging agreements among Discovery, customers, and the work projects.
ENVIRONMENT: there are instances in the MIT enviornment that can be hostile
to reaching agreements.
Discussion: There was a sense that before one can reach an agreement there
needs to exist relationship and trust. In start-up project work, it can be
difficult to build a relationship quickly between the business customer and
the Discovery team leader.
We noted the following issues or points:
- When trust is broken, then it can be very difficult to rebuild
- This is more about relationships than agreements
- When trust fluctuates during a project, then customer interest and
commitment will vary.
- History and preceding knowledge affect trust, especially if the help has
been adverse or not helpful and has encouraged the customer to proceed and
succeed on his/her own.
- We need more education for Discovery, based on communication and
reinforcement of discovery principles.
- Discovery team leaders need to maintain an awareness of when things
change in a project, a relationship, or an agreement.
- Sometimes individuals proceed singularly in spite of offers of help.
- Relationship & trust are related. Time is a function of relationships
- Managing expectations is a necessar part of trust & relationships
- We need to learn to be more explicit & make clear issues / fears that may
arise during the course of the work.
Some of the outcomes of this discussion included:
- Focus on behavioral competencies to reach agreements
- Enhance negotiation skills & learn how to say "no" or "no, not yet" in a
manner that retains the relationship and trust
- Be able to explain and negotiate the dynamic between efficiency and value
(efficiency for IS and the Institute, value as perceived and delivered from
the customer perspective)
- Build relationships before work begins (if possible)
- Look for opportunities to exceed expectations, especially early in the
project.
- Look for and note where we have agreements
- Capture "why" we got to where we are, remember and use those as
talking/negotiating points.
- Maintain relationships as well as content of work
- Flag when communications / relationships are at risk and take action.
