One of my friends was recently handed an 85 page website planning document. There were objectives, findings, competitor reviews, architecture diagrams, process flows, schematics and all that jazz. And on a normal day, he would have moved this project into build. Only, this time he chose to read the document differently. He started with the appendix.
Yup. He began with that part of the document we avoid like the plague. More specifically, he started with the notes from the stakeholder interviews. Then he went back to the beginning and read through the recommendations for the site redesign.
They had worked with some of the brightest minds in the business. Hell, they had even gone out of house for some additional perspective. And yet, in his opinion, it was bunk. That's not to say it wasn't a better website. It was. The problem was that there was next to nothing in the build recommendations that they wouldn't have recommended regardless of who they spoke to.
As I've been experimenting with different methods of engagement in the discovery and design phases, I thought this was a perfect time to ask myself "what is the role of the traditional stakeholder interview process?"
It didn't take long for me to start feeling dirty. Let's face it, this particular process has become the method by which we cheat our clients into believing that there is unique value in our approach and engaging them in a "process". But are they really engaged? Do we really utilize what we learn?
So much of what we learn is about issues larger than the website. And sure, we are testing assumptions and ideas during this stage, but is this the best method to accomplish such? And does anyone else on the team actually read the appendixes for all of the other stuff that arises? I have to admit, I haven't prior to today.
I should qualify this by pointing a finger at not only ourselves and the industry but also at our clients. They yearn to be cheated in this way. Hell, they often demand it. Project owners want their organization to be "engaged" but in a "safe" and "controlled" way (read: un-empowered).
My hands are dirty. But I'm done with such things. What about you, dear reader?
I'm curious as to how others come clean regarding the traditional practices they are using or may have used in the past. And so, a meme is born. I am tagging the following individuals and asking them to "come clean" as I'd love to hear their views as it relates to the "engagement" practices that dominate their industries:
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