Life will be much simpler if you don’t have any expectations
An old friend of mine
That thought helped me during my youth. While you run a software company and your success is dependent on people there will be a certain level of expectation. Even when you clear your expectation at the beginning of the work engagement. There is a high probability of things going wrong.
I think this happens because when you are talking to someone there are 4 people in the conversation. You, your thought, the other person and their thought. The message you want to convey and the message they understand could have a stark difference. This may lead to a completely unexpected outcome.
Working without a plan may seem scary. But blindly following a plan that has no relationship with reality is even scarier
Rework by Jason Fried, David Heinemeier Hansson
The other side of the project is the outcome and how the clients see the work. Your expected standard may be very high and the client doesn’t want that. You also have to set realistic expectations with your team and provide help when needed. One of the most difficult things could be to eliminate some task which doesn’t provide much value or could end up with more effort than budget.
While doing some project one of the intangible is how comfortable are you? How do you feel the project is going on? Your fears could be an indicator that the project is red, amber or green. You may have the smarts and skills to convert an amber to green or a red to amber. However, if your value system is of high integrity and you want to serve your client better it’s good to share the facts. The conventional idea of capitalism doesn’t approve you to be vulnerable in business.
Vikram Shetty 