Vision, Direction, Alignment, and a sheet of paper

While there are various, common project methodologies, such as Waterfall / Sequential, Kanban, Agile, Scrum, Critical Path Method, Six Sigma, or PMI/PMBOK “Method,” each methodology has three common needed elements. Regardless of the project methodology your team uses, each needs to establish a direction, create alignment, and spur commitment.

Many project management documents, from my past experiences, seem to focus on three items: budget, timeline, and technical implementation. After all, the magical Project Management Triangle Model eloquently illustrates the prime constraints of managing a project: “scope” (features), “time”, and “cost.” Most depictions of the triangle also show “quality” within the center of the triangle as a fourth attribute to the model. Often a weakness of these documents, depending on who drafted them, focuses on the technical features of a digital product (software, app, or web) compared to emphasizing a clear articulation about the people who will use the digital product once it’s launched.

Project managers and user experience practitioners need to form strong alliances. A technique to kick-start the journey of building this connection can be achieved with one sheet of paper. Note that it doesn’t need a concrete tablet to form a strong foundation with information set in stone, but rather this one sheet of paper will become a living document which can collaboratively evolve throughout the lifespan of the project.

In 2011, I attended a SXSW presentation from a UX specialist, Robert Hoekman, Jr., where Hoekman described a Waterfall-like sequential process for design as well as the concept of a UX OneSheet document. A crucial item he emphasized is the importance for the entire project team to know the “why” behind what you’re doing. In other words, for the project team to know at the beginning kickoff to know the answers to two simple questions:

1. What is the problem we are trying to solve?
2. Who are we trying to solve the problem for?

The combination of the responses from the project team members to these two questions can be condensed into the Vision for the project. As a sanity check, ensure the vision statement of the project aligns to the vision statement of the organization. Then the success of achieving the vision for the project should aide to achieving the vision for the organization.

Next, the answers to the following questions can be crowd-sourced to the project team, which will help define the situational circumstances of your target audience: Who, What, When, Where, Why, and How. Here are some example prompting phrases:

1. Who are we building the product for?
2. What are they doing while needing to use the product?
3. When will they be using the product?
4. Where are they located as they are using the product?
5. Why should they be using your product over a competitors’ product?
6. How can we help them be successful using the product as quickly as possible?

Which leads into defining the “Product Lifecycle Phases,” as the key milestones along the journey for your customer / end-user: before they use the product, while they use the product, and after they use the product. What actions does the project team need to take to ensure a smooth journey as the customer transitions from a prospective customer to gaining their attention and interest in the product, following to conversion, and sustaining their loyalty and retention.

What top three objectives and design criteria should be the guiding principles for the project team? List the three features the product / app needs successfully provide to an end-user, which provides enough to gather validated learning about the product feeding back as input into continued development (also known as the “minimum viable product”). Again, as a sanity check, are the top three objectives: concrete, specific, and measurable?

Lastly, have the project team define the top three key results and measures of success. Hint: there most likely should be a match to the itemized objectives. Below are some examples of elements to measure success:

• Acquisitions — adoption of using the product
• Conversions — trial evaluations to regular customer
• Engagement — reoccurring frequency of use of the product
• Satisfaction — customer promoting the product to their friends & colleagues

As mentioned a throughout this article, “crowd sourcing” the activity of drafting a UX OneSheet document within the project team can be a quick and cost-effective technique to establish a shared vision for the project and generate alignment among the team members. Plan a meeting, use the free templates (below), then synthesize the input from the team members into the UX OneSheet for your project team.

“Know your users and plan everything with them in mind.”

Quotation source: “Yes We Can: The Future of Government Online.” White paper by Modius Associates. December 2011.

Free downloadable resource — User Experience OneSheet template:

• PDF: http://bit.ly/2crwSAw
• MS Word: http://bit.ly/2bPqnc7

Need assistance to establish a human-first, user-centric, or design-thinking approach within your organization or project team? Learn more about the user experience and interactive strategy consulting services of Garofalo Studios: www.garofalostudios.com/consulting and our UX design help as an affordable subscription plan service: www.uxsubscription.com

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