Customer Project Management

Following the Custom Solutions (Pre-)Sales Flow, we sell custom solutions, and they therefore need to be implemented and handed over into daily operations. We see it as crucial that the responsibilities for what happens after a customer has ordered are clear, so we can deliver on time and can navigate any obstacles or changes in scope, timeline, or costs.

We differentiate between the Customer’s project and the part we do to contribute to their project. The customer’s project often runs for months if not years. We, on the other hand, have to deliver standard products or custom solutions, as designed and sold. This usually requires just a Task or 1+ Epics with Tasks in our Jira and has a defined scope and timeline. Once done, we’re in daily operations (and still make Changes), but the customer’s project might go on for much longer. We might be involved in a future phase again, creating new Epics where we deliver another or the next part of a solution. Overseeing the Customer’s project vs planning and coordinating the technical delivery are two very different jobs in terms of focus and skills, therefore usually never done by the same person.

This is way we should avoid oversimplifying by just calling everything "Project Management".

Managing the overall customer’s project (the parts relevant for VSHN) is the responsibility of the Customer (Key) Account Manager. This includes:

Translating the sold solution into work packages to deliver the solution is the responsibility of the Solution Architect. This includes: