One of my favorite things happened this week. Clients who have been live on the Spitfire Project Management System for over three years contacted us because their company’s business needs are changing and they want to utilize more of the features and functionality in our system. In their particular case, they had been operating mostly as Construction Management (CM) and this year have begun taking some jobs that put them into the role of General Contractor (GC).
Category Archives: Our Clients
Avoid the XY Problem
Here at Spitfire Management, we love to listen to our clients’ needs. It’s the first step in a process: first listen, then address the need, and finally write a “You asked for It, You Got It” article for our client newsletter! But, sometimes, what we hear is very muddled because of the XY Problem.
Concisely put, the XY Problem syndrome is when people talk about their attempted solution rather than the actual business need. That is to say, there is an initial problem (X), and the person who tries to fix that problem thinks of a solution (Y), but then runs into a problem with that solution so seeks help from someone else by asking about how to make that solution work instead of asking about the original problem.
Tweet“You guys are so darn cool!”
The quote above came from a client recently. Why was he so happy? Because he had sent an enhancement request to Support and Support was able to tell him “we’ve already added that in our latest version.”
While we get many ideas from clients on how to improve our software (and I know that Development considers each suggestion), sometimes we come up with ideas ourselves in anticipation of our client’s needs. And by “we” I do mean everyone at Spitfire Management. As we teach the Spitfire Project Management System, as we answer questions about it and demo it and document it and implement it, we all think of ways that the system could work better. And we, ourselves, pass those ideas along to Development.
Sometimes those suggestions are not even major enhancements, but rather little tweaks that make it easier and faster for our clients to get work done. Because, really, that’s what it’s all about, isn’t it?
What functionality do you look for in a project management system? What user-interface features make work easier for you? What makes you think, “Now, that would be cool!”? You never know; it may already be on our drawing board.
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