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users

Taming the Unruly User

A Project Management Article by Michiko Diby, PMP

Here’s something I hear a lot in IT development teams:

  • Users don’t know what they want
  • Users are always changing the requirements

The other day I sat in a meeting with a development team PM and her client. The system, mind you, is already built, but not yet live. I listened, incredulously, as the users asked for one new requirement after another. It was like watching children go nuts in the grocery store while the slightly clueless parent says “Please Johnny don’t.” I was embarrassed for the PM because, quite frankly, she had done a very poor job of managing her users.