Slides by Agnieszka Amborska, Leader PM at @netguru from a Meet-Up at Aula Polska.

1. Agnieszka Amborska
Our client, our partner
how to build a healthy relationship with your clients

3. TRANSPARENCY

5. • What did we want to achieve?
• What did we do well?
• What could have been done better?
• What should we do in the future to avoid the failure?
• More at Does failure always mean we failed?
AAR/After-Action Review

6. TRUST &
ASSERTIVENESS

7. Q: Kate will try to finish this feature today
BTL: Kate is not very experienced and we are not sure if she
can make it.
I: Kate will focus on this feature today
BTL: Kate is smart and by focusing she can deliver most
value.
Communication

8. Q: Maybe we could move from Jira to Pivotal…
BTL: We don’t really know but maybe it’ll help.
I: We recommend to move the project from Jira to Pivotal
as this will improve…
BTL: We have experience with both and found Pivotal to be
better because… You need to trust our judgment.
Communication

9. Q: Is it enough if Kate joins the meeting, or should John join
as well?
BTL: You are “the boss” and you know best how to manage
this project.
I: We recommend that Kate joins this meeting. We can skip
John & Mark as they are involved in other part of the
project. Let me know if that suits you guys.
BTL: We are a professional consulting company that has
PM skills and experience in thing like that.
Communication

10. Q: Would it be possible to grant root access for John?
BTL: Can you trust us? We’ll be good.
I: We recommend that John has direct root access. This is
important because…
BTL: We know what we are doing.
Communication

11. Q: Can we talk today about this issue? Will you find some
time today?
BTL: You are busy and important. I don’t mind waiting -
whatever works for you.
I: We’d like to go through issue. Can we schedule a call for
3pm CET today?
BTL: We have important issues that we need to discuss.
Please make time for us.
Communication

12. Q: I'd like to inform you, that I found out from our operation
manager, that the travel costs are added to the client's
invoice.
BTL: I’m kind of new here and this is the first time I’m doing
this, someone told me to do something so I need to do this.
I: As per our contract the travel expenses are added to the
invoice. Please let me know if you have any questions
regarding this.
BTL: It’s something we do often, we know how to
professionally manage this and you are responsible for the
costs.
Communication

13. Q: Sorry we weren't able to work on it yesterday - John had
some hardware issues.
BTL: He is not very smart and can’t work “hardware” very
well.
I: Due to hardware issues John was not able to work on this
problem yesterday.
BTL: Those were very hard issues but he managed to fix
them in one day only ;)
Communication

14. [after a call missed by a client]
Q: sorry I have other calls and tbh I am quite busy today
BTL: I’m pissed and you are less important that my other
tasks today. It’s your fault.
I: Unfortunately I have other commitments till the end of the
day. Can we please have a call tomorrow morning (Tue,
9am CET)?
BTL: I’m upset & busy, but you are an important client so I
want to make this work.
Communication

15. PARTNERSHIP

17. Thank you!
Agnieszka Amborska