By: Dennis Williams

Dennis Williams — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 07:02:10 +0000

there’s a saying that goes – sell like you’re buying. I’ve always seen that as – If I were them – what would put me off – and what would I like. When I buy something I go look at the features, skip the marketing splurb and the go hunt for the bad reviews in order to make an informed decision. So I guess the same goes for when I try convince someone to buy in. I try and anticipate the shortcomings and be transparent about it from the start – which people appreciate and it also makes them feel part of the solution – because they have input all the time. They don’t feel like I’m telling them what to do – but rather start seeing the whole process as something collaborative. Also, from the start of each project I sort of do a little guerrilla inquiry by basically trying to figure out who’s who – preferences they have personalities, the interpersonal behavior and who’s really calling the shots. I try to pick up on previous projects and most of all what their personal experiences were – why they didn’t like things or what went wrong. I make notes of these and then decide on a strategy of how I’m going to best achieve what I want to by targeting or engineering for the people I know will have the biggest influence on the project. A lot of the time the boss is not the biggest obstacle. The dynamics on any project are driven by the people in the team and by truly understanding the people – and designing your own service around who they are and what they want make things go a lot smoother. With every presentation I do, I try to work up personas of the people that’s going to be listening to my presentation – these influence time, language, domain topics and content, what they’re trying to get from my talk (on a personal level and not just professional) – anybody in the presentation I know of that will be more resistant or influential – and if so – I want to focus more on that person whilst not alienating the rest. Nobody else sees my personas, so quick little notes and stickies which I add to my project folder and refer to throughout.

Comments on: Design the stakeholder experience

By: Dennis Williams