~ Some of the people who were there – sorry, I should have taken a photo
Thank you everyone for your input this morning in our Friday Big Cuddle. I think everyone’s comments were really positive and if we all begin to think in this way and make space on projects for the things we talked about to happen then we will start to move the standard and innovation in all our work up a gear. Which is nice.
So, in the spirit of keeping this stuff front of mind I have included a rough transcript here of what we talked about and things we all want to start to do in the future – If I’ve missed anything that anyone said please add a comment. If you were too nervous that someone like would laugh at you if you spoke up then you too can have your say here.
It all began…
The morning, and the design, interface and backend teams, dawned bright and clear. And the following took place when we started to chat over how we can begin to better integrate the design and development activities.
Andrew (piping up first in hushed tones): It’s important that the designers don’t create designs that aren’t buildable in the time that’s been allocated.
Mark: When he’s told to ‘hurry-up’ it can mean that he isn’t able to spend the time he’d like to properly finesse and add value.
Dave: Designs must never be considered as a functional specification. They can only be considered as a guide because the complexities of what goes on behind them means that there’s lots of other considerations to take into account on them.
Derek: This where the scope of works comes into play – getting a detailed scope that’s had involvment from all sides, design innovation, technical innovation, customer journey insight, and marketing strategy. Is what’s required.
Paul: It’s also important to allocate and involve the full team from the start of the project and introduce them to the client and their objectives as well as allocate time in the plan for each’s ongoing involvement throughout.
Jarrod: Timing always shifts and it’s vital that we make sure that even under tight timescales we don’t remove the time allowed for innovation and joined-up thinking as this happens easily when the project is due yesterday.
JJ: Being responsive is vital for us so we can offer the most efficient and effective service possible, but a key part of this must always be to add value and keep the end-user, and what makes them click, at the heart of the matter.
Dave/Toby (not at the unison but in agreement): We need to make sure that Operations are involved in this thinking so that time is always scheduled for it.
Kevin/Paddy: Some projects require different approaches though. We need to remember that certain parts of a project need to be lead by the development team and others are better lead by the design team. Sometimes the entire project is like this. This means that the process must be developed to understand and accommodate this at the outset.
David: I think the key to an innovative development is to allow all teams in to the conceptual development as early as possible.
Graeme: We need to plan in research time, not just for design and marketing, but for interface and back-end too so that we’re always challenging the status quo
Toby: Agreed, as early as the pitch stage
David: We should also be able to suggest improvements
JJ: Yes, but we have to be careful not to deviate and start offering the client things that make them feel that what we’re doing for them isn’t the best possible. We should offer these alternative, added-value opportunities at the beginning of the project so the client can choose from a shopping list of options.
Paddy: Part of being more innovative is giving ourselves time to do it by creating more re-use in the functionality we already build. This will mean we can push the functionality further each time.
Bill: This is really important. Everything we build must be re-usable.
Kev/Ash: By working together we can also identify more opportunities for re-use and added value in the project.
Andrew: Joined-up thinking means continuous consultation and review.
Jarrod: Along with some simple guidelines describing the limitations of what can be done so that the line’s not crossed that makes things take a lot longer.
Toby: Perhaps we should introduce a buddy scheme where we pass across detailed insight in a controlled fashion
David: I think we can improve the joined-up thinking by changing the linear mentality imposed by microsoft project. Creating a framework for a more fluid iterative process.
Paddy: Exactly, and everyday we all need to challenge the project process to improve it by degrees.
JJ: I think that’s a good place to finish – it’s 10 o’clock and all’s well. and I think we’ve identified a few important areas where we can further improve what we already do. Thanks for your input everyone!
