You can’t over communicate

Simon Hook
Sep 1, 2018 · 3 min read
Photo by rawpixel on Unsplash

‘You can’t over communicate’. It’s something I’ve heard many times before. But rarely did it have the impact which it did, when it was said to me again the other day.

Another great comment along similar lines to that. ‘Your a salesman’. We’re all salesman. Again I’m pretty confident that this is another statement which seems to hold true. With your communication, you’re also selling something. I agree. It’s another very logical statement to make.

As a response to a very tough week. Our product team were subject to many un-constructive conversations. Most from those feeling left out of our process.

I made the conscious decision to improve. I felt I could do better. Would this be as challenging as I first thought? I doubt it. I know that whatever happens, we can’t allow ourselves to get to the same outcome with our next release. It simply can’t happen.

Immediately I began sharing wireframes. Something I had done before. Only this time it would be more often. Via the prototyping software Invision. Which empowers everyone in the team, across the pond to share their thoughts. It provides a safe place for all members of the team to provide feedback. And feed into our latest sprint.

Needless to say, this had an almost immediate affect. It demonstrated a behaviour change. A direct response to the feedback our internal team were providing. And almost immediately the nature of our internal conversations changed.

Everyone understood that our processes needed to change. We of course already knew this. We’re a small team. The negativity enabled us the opportunity to see what was important for the business. And with that provided time and space for us to spend some time on a focused look at our process.

This will need to be a continued process of change. It should be of course. But the excitement of being responsive is an important feeling. We need to hang onto this. And notice the immediate impact and behaviour change from the internal account team. As this provides feedback to the product team that we’re currently on the right track.

It also demonstrates that now the business has to follow suite. There is no choice but to expand and make room for this new working stream of user experience design.

As this is the one true stream helping to provide sight from our users working prospective. It’s the one stream that has to be made room for. And it’s this same working stream which all teams across the business should be providing feed back for.

Without that extra room. Without the additional space and time. The user experience of the product stays in its current state. Without progress and iteration it even begins to move backwards. It’s almost a reflection of the internal workings of the business.

Ultimately if the business doesn’t expand and flex to allow room for user experience design, then the product dates. It’s experience moves backwards and this results in confusion and frustration for its users.

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