The client relationship is the way the exchange with the sponsor of a project is conducted: understanding the need, keeping the client informed of progress, and having the deliverables approved at the agreed milestones rather than disappearing until final delivery.
In the project
Even a teaching project has a client: the teacher who commissions it, or a credible fictional client that the team gives itself (see technical specification). The expected practice is to restate the need in the cahier des charges (the French functional requirements specification), to report regularly through phase reviews and interim checkpoints, and to manage expectations, which means announcing a deviation or a trade-off early rather than letting the client discover it at the final presentation. All of this is steered by project planning and tracking.
See also
- Technical specification — putting the client’s need into formal terms
- Cahier des charges fonctionnel — the contract with the client
- Project planning and tracking — the cadence of reviews and reporting