Design a Statement of Work
Learning Objectives
After completing this unit, you’ll be able to:
- Describe key areas of a statement of work (SOW).
- Identify the engagement objectives in a SOW.
Start an Implementation with a Statement of Work
The Slack Services team just sold a new services engagement to a company that’s upgrading to Slack Enterprise Grid. And now you have a new-to-Slack client leaning on you to guide them through their launch journey. You need to assemble and onboard the team, understand their objectives, create a timeline, and set up the project cadence.
Your team is starting to plan in anticipation of the kickoff. You have a couple weeks to mobilize the team, perform knowledge transfer, and educate everyone on what’s to be delivered. To be sure you cover all your bases, start with a signed statement of work (SOW).
Define Key Areas of the SOW
A SOW defines project activities, deliverables and timetables, and budget, serving as the source of truth for any new consulting engagement. As a part of your preparation, it’s crucial that the internal team assigned to the project understands its contents.
You likely already have a structure for your statements of work that you should continue to use. This content focuses on the areas of a SOW that may be specific to a Slack project and can vary from other service projects.
The key areas of the SOW that may differ for a Slack project include the executor of the SOW, engagement objectives, deliverables, and client obligations.
Executor of the SOW
The executor section outlines the company and the executive sponsor on the client side. The executive sponsor is generally also the primary owner of their Slack instance. This might be the first point of contact you have with the client. They should be a key contact in the overall success of the project and make up a part of the core project team.
Engagement Objectives
The engagement objectives section outlines key objectives for the engagement. Understanding the client’s objectives and goals for the engagement is essential for building alignment internally—with your client and your Slack account team. Before meeting with the client team, it's important that the internal team assigned to the engagement is well versed in these objectives.
It’s also important to understand how this engagement fits into the greater success and sales strategy for this client. To be sure you’re aligned, work with the Slack account executive and customer success manager for this client who drives the overall customer success plan.
Example objectives may include:
- Understand the client’s current Slack use. Create the best Slack Enterprise Grid experience for the client’s core team of users and prepare for growth. Consider the client’s compliance and security requirements for grid design decisions.
- Recommend a foundational governance to enable effective Slack administration and use.
- Train users on Slack, including grid overview for admins and stakeholders.
- Capture feedback from the initial launch and apply it in future deployments.
Project Deliverables
The project deliverables section outlines what’s provided to the client throughout the engagement and who’s delivering the work on your team. The project deliverables are a key input into the initial project plan. As you onboard the team and review the plan together, it’s important for the team to understand who’s delivering what and when. This ensures that you have proper alignment going into the project.
Client Obligations and Project Assumptions
Your internal team delivers the work but that’s only half of the equation. The client also has obligations that they must meet for the project to be successful. Be sure to go over key areas that the client must fulfill, including their own resourcing and time allocation for the project. The core client team is engaged throughout the project and often continues to govern Slack after launch. (You learn about roles and responsibilities later in this badge.)
Educate the Client on the Statement of Work
Once your internal team has a fundamental understanding of what’s included in the SOW, the next step is to do the same with the core client team assigned to the project. All of this should be done as a part of project planning prior to the kickoff meeting. More often than not, only the client’s executive sponsor has reviewed and signed the SOW. This is why it’s especially important to also review the document with the core client team. Doing so ensures that everyone is aligned and working towards the same goals from the start.
Now you know about the key areas of a statement of work for Slack projects and the importance of educating the client on the content of the SOW. Next up, explore launching a Slack project plan using the SOW as a foundation.