Last week, I had a good dialogue with one of my outsourcing partners regarding the topic of “Expectation Management”. Have you heard of this lingo before? My partner enlightened me on this new terminology and the important of practicing Expectation Management in all our outsourcing endeavors.

First of all here is a definition of ”Expectation Management” that I came across: 

Expectation Managment is the process of gathering, incorporating and measuring stakeholders expectations during the life of a project.

So, what does that mean within the context of outsourcing? I believe Expectation Management involves keeping close tabs on your own project expectations in order to ensure that they are realistic, appropriate and potentially adapted as needed.  

Let me give a practical example from my own business where I experienced Expectation Management at work. As you might know, this blog is connected to our new outsourcing portal, www.esalesguru.com, which is slated to launch in January ‘07. When we were first began drawing up the plans, deliverables and timeframes earlier in the year for this new web solution, my expectations were that a beta version would be completed within a 4 month period. 

Now, it is important to note that my expectations were based on the intial scope and details of the project. As we hit the three month mark in our development period, it is was easy to see that we had not accounted for certain components and additional development tasks involved in this comprehensive solution. Now, this is where Expectation Management comes into play. When my developer told me that the site was going to take 3-4 months longer to complete, I had two possible responses:

1. Freak out and demand that the solution be completed in the time frame that we agreed to!

2. Take a deep breath and closely evaluate our initial expectations, the specific reasons as to why they were not being met and adapt accordingly.

I opted for response #2 and quickly recognized that the inital agreed upon expectations were simply NOT realistic. I assessed whether or not there was a performance issue with the partner,but found that they had been very productive and had provided high-quality services thus far. I was forced to look at our deliverables and timesframes and adapt my expectations to fit more with reality!

Now, based on this experience, I have pulled out a few principles of Expectation Management that I would like to pass along to you.

1.  Build your initial project expectations with some room for flexibility - Depending on the size and type of project you are outsourcing, it is sometimes hard to predict exactly how long the project will take. It is important to define a clear timeline at the start, but closely monitor the reality of those expectations throughout the life of the project and adjust as needed.

2.  Distinguish between performance issues and expectation issues - It is sometimes easy to react impulsively when your outsourced contractor does meet a particular deadline. It is imperative to closely evaluate their ongoing performance to determine whether the delays are due to the quality of work OR your own unrealistic expectations. This is key! In my situation, I knew that my development team did not have any performance issues and it was simply a matter of my own expectations not matching with the scope and size of the project.

3.  Set regular evaluation meetings - It is important to set a regular time throughout the life of the project to openly discuss and measure your expectations with your outsourced partner. In my situation, I had regularly communicated with my development team and became increasingly aware of the need to adjust our timeline expectations. I was not happy about it, but this practice of “Expectation Management” has been key  to building a healthy and productive outsourcing partnership. If I continued to impose unrealistic expecations with my partner, then that would have led to a strained relationship and potentially a more difficult situation.

So there you have it…Expectation Management - a new term to throw around at your next party:) Until next time!

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