Liftoff Sessions are one way to work smarter, not harder.
According to new Gartner research, by the end of 2018, less than .01% of mobile applications will be considered a financial success by their creators. Let’s make that statistic more concrete: One app out of every 10,000 will succeed. Though that success may be significant, the failure of the other 9,999 apps is a real possibility.
When we work with clients on digital products, we must start by acknowledging and planning for these risks.
We must also admit that eliminating risk altogether is impossible.
From idea to prototype to launch, developing a new digital product is a massive mashup of challenges, learnings, frustrations and happiness. Various people inside and outside of each client’s organization will define “success” differently. On top of that, each team will face the difficulties inherent to communication. Emotions often run high.
Then, there’s scope creep. As requirements and vision change, the desired outcome evolves. The budget shrinks, and the scope balloons. Not all ideas will see the light of day, and many important tasks will fall by the wayside.
What then? Handling change requests with tact tests the patience of even the most senior teams. Think about the last project of which you were a part: How clear was the vision? Did the team nail down objectives and deliverables? Could everyone agree upon how to measure “success”? Did the project remain static or morph? If you participate in the development of a digital product, you will likely experience a clash of expectations amongst project stakeholders.
Plan differently.
We have learned that every project is special, unusual. There are no “norms” in product development. That’s why we must go through a discovery and strategy phase before beginning a journey with a client. When a team doesn’t get off on the right foot, getting back on track becomes extremely difficult and costly.
At Samsao, we now require a Liftoff Session to face this reality. Our team and our clients, together, must gain clarity around critical questions and understand where they are going, how long it will take, how much budget they must make available, and what risks they will face along the way.
Liftoff Sessions set the direction of the journey.
During a Liftoff session, we discuss three dimensions of agile chartering: purpose for inspiration, alignment for team collaboration, and context for the project dynamics.
Purpose — This is the project’s inspiration, the motivation behind building the product. Dialogue about the purpose helps the team understand what they are committing to, as well as the significance of what will be built. We also learn the product’s requirements for success. How will we know if we have succeeded?
Alignment — In order for all the stakeholders and the team collaborating on the product on a day-to-day basis to succeed, they must build and sustain trust. They can’t get any work done if they are busy fighting one another, so to collaborate effectively, they must be unified in their pursuit of the desired outcome. Everyone must be on the same page from the get-go, so we take the time create alignment.
Context — The team must understand the environment in which the product is being built. To gain a full view of the entire “system,” we answer questions like these:
- What is the problem?
- What are the business’ challenges and priorities?
- What is the dream, the ideal future?
- What are the main benefits and impacts?
- What are the risks?
- What is the projected ROI?
- How will the product fit into the big scheme of things?
- Who are the competitors?
- What is in scope? What is out of scope?
- Who are the users and/or customers?
- What are the committed resources, tools, technologies, and environments needed for the team to do their job?
- What is the budget? (timewise and moneywise)
By going through this process, we can tailor proposals that meet real needs — that is, the actual pain points that the client (or the client’s customers) experience.
Liftoff Sessions give us a way to work smarter, not harder.
Liftoff Sessions ensure that we can jump the hurdles that often prevent success: insufficient budgets, unrealistic timelines, and sloppy research and experimentation. They also enhance the team’s understanding of the project and commitment to it.
Another key aspect is visualizing the user’s first experience and identifying essential features in order to capture the attention of our audience. We disaggregate a project’s complexity, and we define a minimal marketable feature set (aka, a “product”).
We also create an actionable product backlog and prioritize it according to our clients’ business goals. Based on the budget, we can then establish strategic goals to ensure that we are first and foremost addressing critical needs that then create added value to the product, thus creating a return on investment.
By the time we finish a Liftoff Session, we have met these objectives:
- Summarize and document project vision, mission, business goals, trade-off matrix, target audience, risks and opportunities, and project dependencies;
- Prioritize product backlog.
Liftoff Sessions build consensus.
Successful projects are the byproduct of successful teams. Teams can only be as successful as their individual members. Designers, developers, UX experts, project owners, and executive decision-makers must all take an active role in defining what the project is, where it should end up.
In order for such cross-functional teams to produce the desired outcome, they must all share the same customer-centric vision. Liftoff Sessions establish this vision and build the team’s understanding and ownership, which in turn boost the team’s performance. From there, we rely on rapid iterations to make that vision a reality.
Liftoff Sessions begin building the team.
What we’re ultimately talking about here are stronger relationships and better communication. Sure, we discover mismatched expectations and competing goals. But better to suss those out at the beginning of the journey rather than halfway through.
We have found that giving this discovery work the attention it deserves paves the way to solutions that are far more innovative and teams that are far more motivated and effective. Though we cannot guarantee success, we can dramatically increase the odds that it will show up.
You’re more than welcome to comment or share your experience in the comments section below. As usual, feel free to hit the claps button and recommend the story if you found it valuable, it’s always appreciated :)
If you want to know more about our digital agency or what kind of products we craft, please visit our website or reach us here.
