When we talk about starting a project off correctly, we often mention problems to be solved. Unfortunately, solving problems alone is not the path to success.\u00a0 We must also make sure we are solving the right problems.\u00a0 Luckily, this task is not challenging and just requires us to ask a few questions.<\/p>\n
The first thing to do is to identify who speaks for the solution.\u00a0 This speaker is the person or persons that will use the product.\u00a0 They may be subject matter experts (SME), but more often are an end-user or a representative for the users.\u00a0 These people are easy to identify because they are the ones faced with the problems we are solving.\u00a0 These are the people on the front line that will be most impacted by the solution.<\/p>\n
For example, an accounting package may be required to have features based on the desires of the CFO.\u00a0 However, the accountants using the software need to be able to enter and retrieve the data the CFO wishes.\u00a0 Since the users are ultimately providing the features to the CFO, then they are the ones that will best define the problem.<\/p>\n
Once the target speakers are identified, it helps to explore their routines.\u00a0 Make sure you go beyond daily routines as there are processes that only run weekly, monthly, or annually.\u00a0 As they share their schedule, there are opportunities to point out pain points and struggles they have.\u00a0 Ask them what they find most annoying or time-consuming in their routine.\u00a0 Look for repetitive tasks that can be automated or simplified.<\/p>\n
Ask them how beneficial the solution is to them when the interview process is done<\/span>.\u00a0 List out what problems are going to be solved.\u00a0 This list should get a response along the lines of “that will significantly improve my life.”\u00a0 Be clear about the solutions as far as what it will, and will not, provide.\u00a0 This is a critical part of setting expectations.<\/p>\n An important part of the interview process is digging down to the core problem.\u00a0 There are problems that only exist because of the current processes.\u00a0 Once you ask why something is done you might find a simpler solution.<\/p>\n A favorite example I ran into (and similar to several other situations) dealt with a large report.\u00a0 The solution was a web application that dealt with data on millions of objects.\u00a0 The user needed a report that could bring back millions of rows almost instantly.\u00a0 They were fine with a paging solution, but did not want to accept a solution where we asked for search criteria that brought back less data.<\/p>\n As we dug into the goals we found out that no one actually needed all those records returned.\u00a0 No shock there.\u00a0 No human can consume millions of records.\u00a0 They wanted the records so they could see the count of records returned.\u00a0 Yes, the end solution was to provide a record count based on any search.\u00a0 A single number is what was needed, not complex queries and paging solutions.<\/p>\n The moral to this story is to understand the problems to be solved.\u00a0 Do not simply have them listed and then run off to craft a solution.\u00a0 Understand the “how” and “why” of the problems.\u00a0 This will help you design a solution that is useful to the end user and not a complex approach that is too slow, expensive, or hard to understand.\u00a0 Better yet, look for milestones where the speakers for the project can assess how the solution is going and provide feedback.\u00a0 It never hurts to check your work along the way.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" When we talk about starting a project off correctly, we often mention problems to be solved. Unfortunately, solving problems alone is not the path to success.\u00a0 We must also make sure we are solving the right problems.\u00a0 Luckily, this task is not challenging and just requires us to ask a few questions. Who Do We […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":187,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[4,14,9,15],"class_list":["post-186","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-general","tag-best-practices","tag-design","tag-projects","tag-requirements"],"yoast_head":"\nDigging Deeper to Find What We Are Solving<\/h2>\n
Never Stop Learning<\/h2>\n