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Project Management for Stakeholder Interviews

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This is an excerpt from from Kim Goodwin’s excellent Designing for the Digital Age. It is quite long, so we’ve broken it into several sections. Many thanks to Ms. Goodwin and Wiley for allowing us to share this with our readers.

With good planning, most of your stakeholder interviews should fit within three or four days. Don’t plan on more than six interviews in a day, since they require a lot more energy than most people expect—you have to absorb what people are saying, figure out what the implications are, lead an effective interview, and take thorough notes all at the same time. A quick lunch and the occasional restroom break are essential. Plan on a short break after every couple of interviews to chat with your teammates, if possible. This table shows an example schedule.

Monday Tuesday Wednesday
8:00 Kickoff meeting Simon Parker (European sales)
8:30
9:00 Cristina Walker (clinical SME) Nothing scheduled—debrief, review materials
9:30
10:00
10:30 Ellen Kent and Ed Lieberman (product managers), walk through existing system Maria Torres (QA manager) Marty Long (mechanical engineer) and Jay Adachi (electrical engineer)
11:00
11:30 Lunch and debrief
Noon Lunch and debrief Lunch and debrief
12:30 Vijay Gupta (GUI lead) and Adam Matievich (lead architect)
1:00 Anders Haglund (sales VP) Collin Smith (CEO)
1:30
2:00 Ron LaFleur (products VP) Cynthia Woo (corporate marketing) Debrief, review schedule with Kate Riley (project owner)
2:30
3:00 Debrief Debrief Gunter Vering (professional services)
3:30 Tim Walsh (director of product management) John McIntyre (support manager)
4:00 Robin Sachs (regulatory issues)
4:30 Debrief, review schedule Debrief, review schedule

Try for at least a couple of the most critical stakeholders near the beginning of your schedule. If a few of the others need to be worked in between user interviews, that may not be a problem, but it’s preferable to finish stakeholder discussions first. That way, you’ll be aware of all the assumptions, opinions, and open issues you need to address in the user research.

When You Can’t Interview Stakeholders

The approach outlined above works well when you have an officially sanctioned project with support from the management team. If you don’t, how can you get some of this information? First, consider trying to get some of these meetings anyway; you may be surprised at how willing some executives are to spend time with you if you ask for help. Send them a persuasive, thoughtful email about how what they know could influence the design and how design decisions can affect business issues. Consider giving them a compelling article or short, interesting book on the subject. Seriously, try anything that won’t get you fired, because their involvement is ultimately necessary for the project to succeed. The one thing that won’t work is whining that you’re being excluded—instead, show them something so impressive they’ll see the value of including you for themselves.

If you simply cannot get access to the right people, see if you can get access to relevant documents they’ve created—white papers, memos, presentations, or whatever you can find. Build relationships with people in their departments so you can at least get indirect information. Above all, don’t give up—keep looking for opportunities to get them involved. Otherwise, they may very well involve themselves later, often with unfortunate results.

Summary

Goal-Directed design isn’t just about accomplishing user goals; a product or service that doesn’t also accomplish a business goal is a failure. Never shortchange your stakeholder research, even if it means compressing your time with potential users. Always:

  • Identify the full range of stakeholders and meet with each
  • Take advantage of the expertise that’s available
  • Learn about hopes, fears, beliefs, and goals
  • Avoid taking assumptions at face value
  • Remember that you’re not just asking questions—you’re also building essential relationships

Once you have a solid understanding of the business, you’re ready to move on to research with potential customers and users.

See Also:

Excerpted with permission from the publisher, Wiley, from Designing for the Digital Age: How to Create Human-Centered Products and Services by Kim Goodwin. Copyright (c) 2009.

About Kim Goodwin

Kim Goodwin is the author of the bestselling book, Designing for the Digital Age. Kim is currently consulting for clients in varied industries including aviation, consumer electronics, and retail. She spent most of the last decade as Vice-President, Design and General Manager at Cooper, leading an integrated practice of interaction, visual, and industrial designers and the development of the acclaimed Cooper U design curriculum. Kim has led projects involving a tremendous range of design problems, including web sites, complex analytical and enterprise applications, phones, medical devices, services, and even organizations. Her clients and employers have included everything from one-man startups to the world’s largest companies, as well as universities and government agencies. This range of experience and a passion for teaching have led to Kim’s popularity as an author and as a speaker at conferences and companies around the world.