Hello Indiana, So, this is the last email in our series on managing stakeholders and improving our soft skills. I will return to the topic, but I want to focus on other subjects after today.
But before I do that, I want to discuss removing some subjectivity from projects. One of the biggest misconceptions is that most discussions around digital projects come down to opinion. That there are many valid approaches and all opinions on the subject are equal.
This can prove frustrating when others ignore your expert opinion based on years of experience in favor of their half-baked idea.
Although trying to convince stakeholders of your expertise is tempting, showing them data and a robust process is far better.
You can cut through a lot of debate by laying out a transparent and data-driven process for all stakeholders at the beginning of a project. A process gives stakeholders confidence. They can see you have done this before, and, more importantly, they can see the steps that will lead to the correct result.
A Process Reassures Stakeholders
A lot of a stakeholder's desire to comment or even micro-manage comes down to fear. Fear something might be overlooked or that the result won't deliver. However, by having and explaining your process upfront, you reassure stakeholders that you are in control and can deliver the results they need.
Integrate Testing Into Your Process
However, it is essential that the process also has milestones where progress is validated objectively. That way, instead of discussing every step of the journey, you can gather evidence that proves that things are going in the right direction.
The testing that validates the design can be very lightweight and quick to do. For example, my typical process for producing a simple landing page design is:
Agree on a set of keywords we want the design to communicate.
Agree on calls to action and critical messaging.
Produce a greyscale wireframe of the page.
Test that people see critical messaging and calls to action with a 5-second test.
Create a high-fidelity mockup of the page.
Use a tool like Attention Insights to ensure attention is still going to the right places.
Run a simple survey with PollFish to ensure users associate the right keywords with the design.
By the end of the process, we will have a design direction with zero debate and (if I have done my job right the first time around) no iterations.
My point here is that having a robust process with testing built-in doesn't just lead to better results; it saves you a world of pain. Stakeholders are reassured and convinced, allowing you to get on with your job with minimum interruption.
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