3 Steps to Identifying Tension Between Business and User Priorities
As with cognitive dissonance, where tension is created when system responses don't meet user expectation, there can arise a conflict in products and services between a consumer's needs and those of your business.
This type of tension is common and often has no single cause or occurrence to point a finger at.
But it’s important to identify the essence of the tension and make attempts to resolve it.
How do you become aware of conflicts and resolve them?
Business requirements are somewhat easy to identify as they’re often connected to policy & regulation, systems, resources and business as usual (BAU). You're operating within a known environment with boundaries and easy access to more information.
User requirements on the other hand, take a bit more effort to uncover and understand. It means going beyond the guardrails of your business, venturing into the unknown and getting into the minds of other people.
Sounds daunting right?
Doesn't have to be.
Follow the Three Cs
As with any complex or overwhelming task, simplifying it makes success seem more likely. To identify the gaps and opportunities between your organisation and its customers, follow this path:
Contemplate
Consult
Connect
Step 1: Contemplate
The first step is to take an inward look at your organisation.
Ensure your business goals are clear, understood and actionable!
Identify limitations or issues that may come into conflict with these goals, whether regulatory, process or resource derived.
Be honest and thorough, no rose-tinted glasses here. The point is to understand the internal experience of your product or service, to be able to identify gaps later in this process.
Step 2: Consult
Take steps to understand your consumers. Collect and analyse what you know about them:
who they are
what their goals are
what issues they face.
Identify and understand both the issues that drive your customers to seek out your products and services in the first place, and the issues they face while interacting with them.
Not sure how to do that?
Look to the data. Behavioural analysis, feedback, product performance, these are but a few sources of information you probably have at hand.
Talk to the people! Engage with consumers to get first-hand information about their interactions.
Hire an Experience Designer. It's what we do (and we love it).
Knowing as much as you can about someone’s experience is where empathy is born, the cornerstone of human-centred design.
Step 3: Connect
Now that you understand the two perspectives, compare your consumer experience with that of your product.
Can you see where the gaps lie?
Look for moments or areas of consumer conflict, confusion or abandonment.
How do those connect to your business requirements?
Are they competing or in ignorance of the other?
This view is your roadmap to alignment, or balance.
Finding equilibrium
To achieve balance, prioritise which areas of dissonance to focus on. A simple approach is to work on two main categories:
Areas of conflict that are present on both sides.
Where the gaps are largest.
Fixing major imbalances first will set you on the right path to narrowing the divide, and give your customers and business leaders comfort and confidence that things are on the road to success.
Tying it together
Differences in what a business wants and what customers need can create tension in your products and services. Which can also be felt by the teams who support them.
This friction occurs in nearly every product or service, to differing degrees. Taking time to analyse and consider these gaps not only improves customer interaction and engagement, it also helps streamline your processes and create cohesion within your organisation.
From the teams delivering and maintaining your offering, to the leaders guiding the process, and the people they support, actively listening and responding ensures everyone gets what they need from the products and services we interact with.
Follow a simple 3-step process to identify and resolve these tensions, and I guarantee your teams and your customers will feel more relaxed.