Young Adult and Next Gen Leaders Often Forget This!
There is one thing you need to learn and state at the outset of any project or plan.
What does success look like?
It’s a common, clarifying question – so much so that it’s a little ubiquitous and meaningless at times. But stay with me.
When you are assigned a project, or are trying to come up with a new product or solution, what’s the first thing you want to do to ensure success?
As a storyteller, I know that there’s the story you see (action in the plot) and the story you feel (the emotional character arc).
Knowing this, I always work on 2 areas to get alignment about success before jumping into design. And it’s not just so my leader or team know what our goal is, but that I haven’t missed any details either.
External Success
The external success are the hard facts you are given, the boundaries to design within, such as limited schedule, a specific budget, regular check-ins, the exact problem you need to solve for what ideal customer, what is the gap in the market? Is there any competition? and what is the impact for the company you want, in terms of profit, brand and other results.
Internal Success
Then I focus on internal success. With my leader or with my design team, I get everyone aligned with what success will feel like emotionally. What does the new product or experience provide for the user? And what does that look, feel, or smell like? Or taste like? What are the sounds? In what way is this innovation music to my ears?
Will service or product feel easy, will it removed stress, was it fun or helpful? What does it look like?
What all those visuals and feelings for the customer? This is what we are trying solve.
By combining the external and internal elements of success and getting agreement on them, you create a strong direction of where you are going, and can design and innovate from there.
Try that with your next assignment.