Stop me if you’ve heard this one before: You’re in the home stretch of development heading toward toward launch, when people in the organization you’ve never heard from suddenly swoop in and mandate changes to everything you’ve done. In this fifth video in our series, I’ll show you how to make sure this doesn’t happen:
Author and tech business guru Guy Kawasaki calls this scenario a “swoop and poop.” It’s what happens when people with power and influence swoop in, dump all over everything that’s been done and fly away — until the next time. And everyone is left grinding their teeth and moaning “how (and why) did this happen?”
It happened because from day one, from initial planning to requirements sessions to prototyping, they weren’t at the table. In this video, you’ll learn how to determine who needs to be at the table from day one, and I’ll give you a formula for identifying the often “hidden” stakeholders that should be involved (but almost always aren’t) in UX scope discussions.
Why do these folks have so much influence? Because they’re carrying the most risk. If the project fails, it’s their necks on the chopping block. And if you don’t know that — and proceed without their input — the scenario above will play out repeatedly over the life of the project. You’ll go down one, two, six or eight paths, and the target will keep moving. You’ll be stuck in a situation where nobody can agree on what the scope of your UX work is — what you’re supposed to be designing or building.
And no matter how good you may be, you will find that the target moves much faster than you do.
Join the Conversation
The best part of writing Think First, my blog posts and speaking engagements is the conversations that they spark. I learn as much from others as they hopefully learn from me. In that spirit, I’d like to know what you think:
Have you ever had a “swoop and poop” experience? How did you recover? What did you do differently the next time?
Share your answer with me on Facebook, Twitter, or LinkedIn.
Stay tuned for part 6 of this video series — and in the meantime, GIVE GOOD UX!
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