Project Management ToolBox: Tools and Techniques for the Practicing Project Manager

4

Voice of the Project Customer

This chapter is contributed by Jose Campos.

It is only if the customer says it is

(Anonymous)

This chapter focuses on tools for the identification and translation of voice of the project customer, including the following:

• Customer Roadmap
• Focus Statement
• Sample Selection
• Discussion Guide
• Quality Function Deployment (QFD)

In particular, these tools—often referred to as customer intimacy tools—orchestrate the activities to define the type of customer information needed by the project and obtain input from the project customers. Also, they ensure that the project team contacts the right type of customer and plans the various contacts with customers. Once the information about customer requirements is acquired, the tools provide a basic framework to translate it into the project scope. Apparently, because their use is part of scope planning, there is a need for close coordination with the tools of schedule and cost planning as the project baseline is defined (see Figure 4.1).

This chapter aims at helping practicing and prospective project managers to

• Learn how to use various tools when dealing with voice of the project customer.
• Choose those tools that are most appropriate for their project situation.
• Customize the tools of their choice.

Clearly, getting a hold of these skills is an enabler of understanding and internalizing customer requirements, and building them in the project products. Consequently, the skills have a premier place in project ...