Читать книгу Becoming a Data Head - Alex J. Gutman - Страница 38

Many of us have been part of projects that went on too long. When expectations aren't clear before the project starts, teams wind up attending meetings out of habit and generating reports no one bothers to read. Asking “When is the project over?” before the project starts can break this trend.

The question strikes at the heart of why the project was initiated and aligns expectations. Important problems are posed because some information or product is needed in the future that does not exist today. Find out what that final deliverable is. Doing this will rekindle conversations about the project's potential return on investment and whether the team has an agreed-upon metric to measure the project's impact.

So, gather project stakeholders and identify reasons the project could end. Some reasons are obvious, like when a project ends from a lack of funding or waning interest. Set those obvious failures aside and focus on what needs to be delivered to answer the business question and conclude the project. For data projects, the final deliverable is typically an insight (e.g., “how effective was the company's last marketing campaign?”) or an application (e.g., a predictive model that forecasts next week's shipping volume). Many projects will require additional work: perhaps ongoing support and maintenance, but this needs to be communicated to the team up front.

Don't assume you know the answer to this question until you've asked it.