Summary

In this chapter, I explained how to understand a client’s industry and their specific business at the beginning of a project and how we gather and document their requirements at all times. Handling these requirements, even when they change the project’s direction and focus, is a big part of your job. Learning to ask the right questions and listening to the answers to gather all sorts of clues regarding the client’s real intent is one of your main skills as a consultant. As you improve these skills over time, you will become a more helpful member of the implementation team. The more practice you get documenting and communicating what you heard from the clients’ users, the better your results will be in the long run. Your projects will be much more likely to end successfully once you’ve mastered these things.

In the next chapter, we’ll dig even deeper into understanding the people who run the business, including management and everyone...