Outsourced Projects - Setting expectations upfront

My belief about successful projects involving multiple parties is all about setting right expectations and great communication. Common expectations need to be set regarding scope, timeline, budget, back-ups & contingency, resources, down-time (if any) et al. Add to that great communication at all times during the life cycle of the project to keep all the stakeholders in sync. Significant skills and track record are needed within providers to ensure consistent results.

Most often, in-house IT executives handling internal IT projects possess the requisite skills but fall short in their end-to-end implementation experience, which leads to wrong expectations, sub-optimal planning, inadequate communication and insufficient resilience which are all detrimental to the success of the project. I have also noticed that leaders in the outsourcing field 'tell' their customers what they need (based on their experience and track record of success in the customer’s industry vertical) unlike the smaller players who will 'ask' what the customer wants, while at the same time also accommodating any specific nuance that the customer needs addressed.

Customers want to talk to domain experts who know their stuff and can 'take charge' to provide advisory services or even hands-on guidance throughout the entire implementation. Honestly speaking, even the customer in many instances does not know what he/she wants at the end of the project.