There a lot of reasons why clients’ needs aren’t met in interactive projects and most of these reasons are not unique to interactive, but can be found in any project. Here are four essential activities, if done well, that make meeting client needs not so difficult:

Accurately Defining Needs

No good solutions come from properly defined problems. Often people concentrate on defining an elegant solution for a problem with a lot of unknowns, assumptions or incorrect information, when time would be better spent defining the problem in more detail and accuracy. Fully understand the problem before considering a solution.

Mistakes are sometimes made in believing a client has correctly defined their needs and then using their problem definitions to develop requirements. No project can overcome bad information during requirements definition. Therefore, always make sure the information provided by the client is accurate and complete as possible. Take time to do the extra work of confirming and evaluating provided information as part of the Discovery process.

Communicating

It is interesting that verbal communication, the most common method of communicating, can be so difficult to do. This difficulty makes it necessary to work hard at understanding the real meaning of what people actually say. A message can be understood fully and validated by using various techniques: asking the right questions, reiterating what was communicated in different terms, illustrating the meaning visually, inferring what was implied, stating the opposite for reaction, and having several people evaluate the message. It’s too late when you hear “That’s not what I said” on the delivery date.

Applying Knowledge

Now that the problem is acceptably defined and a dialog is happening. Knowledge is the key to understanding. It adds depth and clarity to communication. It does not matter how eloquently something is stated, meaning is lost if the message cannot be comprehended. Applying knowledge is problem solving and the crux of the planning process. Get the whole team involved. Get subject matter expert to participate in the conversation. Divide the facts into two groups: what is known and what is unknown. With the unknowns, intelligence can sometimes be a substitute for lack of knowledge. Breaking down the problem into small consumable parts allows one to examine and learn. One acquires knowledge from experience by using his/her intelligence. The moral here is, do your homework. Either know your stuff, or know how to get answers.

Choosing a Solution

The client needs have been properly defined, valid communication has occurred and knowledge applied, so a solution must be proffered. Often there is no standout solution. Cost-benefit analysis, available resources and preferences influence the solution choice. Here lies the art in the technology business: making the best decisions at the right times with the information at hand. However, it’s not magic. The process of measuring risk, applying expert judgment, and managing expectations produces a higher probability of success than a narrow-minded approach. Use what is available to you to make the most informed decision and try to mitigate the liability of the decision through your due diligence process.