As you work your way through yet another IT Project, you might be wondering how to make this one more special, meaningful, or just more productive.

Keeping your client happy throughout the process is one of the biggest ways to have a fulfilling project – both in your eyes and the client’s eyes. Just because you think that the project was a success doesn’t necessarily mean that the client will see things the same way. Managing client expectations starts from the beginning of the project, when the timelines, goals, and budgets are laid out. If at this point, the client expects something that your team cannot deliver, then the project is already off to a bad start. As a project manager, it is your job to wrangle the client back in and get them to see the project from a more realistic standpoint, based on what your team’s capabilities are. Ideally, you would want to meet all of your client’s expectations, but in the case that you cannot, you must get them to buy in to what you and your team can actually accomplish.

You can do this a few different ways. You can provide regular project updates so the client always has a structured expectation in front of them. Also, you can provide regular reporting on the goals of the project. If the client sees that the project is producing meaningful results, they will be less likely to ask for something outside of the original project scope since what you and your team is doing has been working.

Overall, the key is constant communication. As soon as you stop communicating with the client, the project begins to get off track. The client might begin to worry and confidence in your team will be lost.