CHAPTER FIVE

Specifying What the Project Should Accomplish

images For most of us, being misunderstood is a common occurrence, something that happens on a daily basis. At the restaurant, the waiter brings our dinner and we note that the baked potato is filled with sour cream, even though we expressly requested no sour cream. For Mother's Day, we order a dozen roses to be sent to our mother and are aghast to receive a call from her thanking us so much for the lovely carnations. Our mail-order drapes arrive—eight inches shorter than we ordered.

Projects are filled with similar misunderstandings between customers and project staff. What customers order—or, ...

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