Running Awesome Discovery Projects

The largest risk in any digital project is building the wrong thing. Yet you’re expected to define a project scope and provide an estimate after just a few conversations. Then you have to manage to that budget for the life of the project regardless of what else you learn. This is nuts. One of your most important constraints–budget–is defined when you know the least about the project, the beginning. Running digital projects is hard. When expectations are mismanaged (or forced too early) during initial client conversations, running digital projects is nearly impossible. A few conversations and a quick estimate do not provide what you need to build the right thing.

During this talk, we will discuss how you can implement Awesome Discovery Projects to dive into a project with confidence while removing some of the largest risks. You’ll be armed with a thoughtful, scoped roadmap to provide more accurate estimates and be able to correctly set client expectations for the rest of the engagement.

Transcript

1. Rob Harr RUNNING AWESOME DISCOVERY PROJECTS @robertharr
3. #DaytonStrong
5. We are hiring! https://seesparkbox.com/jobs Tangent!
7. YMMV!
8. Websites are software.
9. Determining scope on software projects at the beginning is irresponsible and impossible.
10. Reason 1: Determining scope on software projects upfront is impossible because: Clients are really bad at describing their actual needs.
11. We are bad at estimating work because we are optimistic. Reason 1: Reason 2: Determining scope on software projects upfront is impossible because: Clients are really bad at describing their actual needs.
12. We are bad at estimating work because we are optimistic. Reason 1: Reason 2: Determining scope on software projects upfront is impossible because: Clients are really bad at describing their actual needs. Business needs change over time. Reason 3:
13. Project don’t fail for technical or design reasons, they fail because of the people involved.
14. I believe the biggest risk for software projects is building the wrong thing.
16. Running Awesome Discovery Projects DISCOVERY PROJECTS
17. What are Discovery Projects?
18. What problems are we trying to solve?
19. Committing to a large spend.
20. Trust.
21. Finding a the right client.
22. Training our clients how to work with us.
23. Reducing Risk.
24. A well defined problem, a set of goals, & determining the correct first step. GO AL
25. “We’ll know more about your project tomorrow than we do today.”
26. Client Happiness = A small delta between project expectations and project reality.
27. Client
28. Managing Client Expectations
29. Setting Client Expectations
30. Research Vendors Vendor Selection Negotiation Project Expectations Set
31. Research Vendors Vendor Selection Negotiation Project Expectations Set Expectations Managed
32. Selling Discovery Projects
33. “I don’t know enough to estimate this right now, I don’t think that anyone does.”
34. “There is no commitment to continue on with us”
35. Take the risk out of the project.
36. Initial phone call and gut feel estimate.
37. Estimating Discovery
40. Large Discovery: 3 - 4 weeks $40,000+
41. Medium Discovery: 2 - 3 weeks $25,000
42. Small Discovery: 1 week $10,000 or less
43. Running Awesome Discovery Projects RUNNING THE PROJECT
44. All projects should be designed as human experiences.
45. Prework In-person Meetings Wrap-up
46. Prework In-person Meetings Client Excitement Agreement Wrap-up
47. #1 Prework
48. Interviews
50. Who to interview?
51. Feeling Heard.
52. Sample Questions
53. Tell us about your role and how it ties into the project. Exam ple
54. What are the primary business objectives with the project? Exam ple
55. Who will measure the success of the project? Exam ple
56. How we will measure the success of the project? Exam ple
57. Almost always the last question: (In your opinion) what will keep this project from being successful? Exam ple
58. Research
59. Content Audit
60. Competitive Analysis
61. User Interviews
62. #2 In-person Meetings
63. Who?
64. Studio Team
65. The controller & anchor
66. The pusher
67. The closer
68. Other smart people.
69. This is a giant trust exercise. Story
70. Home or away?
71. Designing the Meetings
76. Setting Ground Rules
77. Parking lot!
78. Stick to your schedule.
79. We always start with goals.
80. What makes a good goal?
81. Do not have implementation details.
82. Can be measured.
83. “Have an interactive, human website that shares relatable stories and reaches millennial and gen Z candidates.” Exam ple
84. “Increase how often and deeply users engage with our content.” Exam ple
85. “Increase revenue from new sales while maintaining renewals.” Exam ple
86. Don’t forget to have fun.
87. Our clients are wanting to be collaborated with.
88. Embrace the unknown.
89. It is ok to not have all of the answers.
90. “That is a great question, let me get back to you with an answer.”
91. We always end with prioritization and phasing.
92. Other ideas http://goodkickoffmeetings.com/
93. Don’t forget to share what the process will look like after you leave.
94. Prework In-person Meetings Client Excitement Agreement Wrap-up
95. #3 Wrap up
96. Prework In-person Meetings Client Excitement Agreement Wrap-up
97. Deliverables
98. Project Brief
99. Technical Strategy
100. Experience Strategy
101. Collaborative Estimate
104. A well defined problem, a set of goals, & determining the correct first step. GO AL
105. Running Awesome Discovery Projects CLOSING THE DEAL
106. Prework In-person Meetings Client Excitement Agreement Wrap-up
107. Keep it simple.
108. Negotiation
109. Know where you stand.
110. Running Awesome Discovery Projects THINGS I THINK I HAVE LEARNED.
111. Don’t write code. Don’t create wireframes. Don’t design anything.
112. RFPs
114. Rob’s two basic rules for happiness in business:
115. Life is too short to work with people you hate. Rob’s two basic rules for happiness in business: Rule 1:
116. If you ever become annoyed by a client, it is only because you’re not charging them enough money. Life is too short to work with people you hate. Rob’s two basic rules for happiness in business: Rule 1: Rule 2:
117. THANKS! @robertharr rob@heysparkbox.com