If you include too many players when gathering requirements or getting buy-off on a Scope of Work (SOW), then you'll likely never get started. (Or if you do, there's a good chance the the perils of 'design by committee' will have seriously weakened whatever it is that you're planning on rolling out.)
On the other hand, if you don't get buy-off or requirements from the right share-holders or subject matter experts, things can get ugly quite quickly.
What approaches or techniques have you used to get the 'just right' degree of inclusion when launching and managing new projects and initiatives?
And, do you have any responses for the following questions:
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- How do you go about defining who should be involved when
it comes to requirements gathering and defining a Scope of Work?
- How can you tell if you've missed someone (before the cost
of re-including them skyrockets)?
- What do you do when a shareholder, group, or subject
matter expert isn't included but swears that they should be?
- Likewise, what do you do when the parties mentioned above
start pulling rank, or exerting additional force for inclusion?
- Would making departments or department heads pay part of
development or rollout costs from either actual allocated budgets or some form
of rationed 'focus points' help improve issues, or would it just create
needless bureaucracy?
- Likewise, if you can get programs from the previous
question to work, how do you prevent the creation of silo-ed applications that
eventually cost more to integrate and grow?
- What has worked for you in the past?
- And, be honest, what hasn't worked in the past?
- Likewise, are there any books, references, blogs, or other
resources that you've found helpful in determining who to include when it comes
time to gather requirements or create (and approve) an SOW?
(And feel free to contact me directly if you'd prefer not to share or if you have problems accessing the forums.)