chris clarke

Making the most of your cheese

I’ve seen a few examples of projects where the primary stakeholders, or the people interested in the project’s success, seem very disconnected or disengaged with the project. I’m not talking about customers or end-users, I’m talking about the big cheese’s - the project/programme managers, the directors etc… You’ve probably seen a few examples of disconnected cheese, here are some tell-tale signs:

• You don’t know who your cheese’s are.
• They are based at a different site/country.
• They rarely walk the floors.
• They sit in an office somewhere and you never see them.
• You only hear from them when things go wrong.

This isn’t a cheese-bashing session however, from my experience the cheese’s are very interested in the project. After all they report to another big cheese who’s also very interested in the project. So, get them in, show them the workplace, show them burn-up charts, tell them how you are doing and any problems you are having. Even if they are in another country or reluctant to come in, just bring them in once an iteration, show them progress and ask them for help if you need it. Your goals and your cheese’s goals should be tightly aligned, make sure you are with the right cheese. In my experience, cheese’s will be very interested in what and how you are doing, and they can even help remove barriers which have been slowing/blocking your progress.

Make the most of a big cheese, they’re often corporate angels in disguise.