Pleasing the Customer(s)
May 11, 2007 | By Joel Dehlin | 7 Comments
When I worked in the mobile devices division at Microsoft we had an ongoing discussion about who our customer was for our mobile device offerings:
- The carrier (e.g. Sprint, Verizon, AT&T, etc.) upon whose network the device would run.
- The OEM who would make the hardware (Dell, HP, Motorola, etc.).
- The kid who would use it.
- The parent who would buy it for the kid.
- The department(s) within Microsoft which might profit from services sold through the device.
- The random executive or product manager who had an opinion of what features should be on the device.
- And of course: ourselves!
So which are the customers? Answer: All.
Customer: Anyone who lays a legitimate claim to directing your software development work.
Imagine how difficult it is to develop requirements for any one of the “customers” listed above. Now imagine creating requirements which balance all of the needs of the competing interests. Ugh.
We face a similar, though not so extreme, challenge in I.T. We have internal customers (typically product managers) who work for the departments we serve. They have their own management chain who have opinions of what work should be done and how. We have our own management chain which has its opinions. And then, of course, we have the end-users for whom we’re collectively building the software. Pile on top the fact that “knowing what one wants in the software” is not an inherent skill. It’s something most people think they do well, but don’t.
So what to do? Here are some suggestions:
- Start with high level requirements. Make sure you understand what the goal of the project is. Stand firm on this point, and don’t relent for any amount of begging, threatening or bribery. Get the value proposition documented in plain English and make sure your customers, all up and down their management chain, agree. Treat this with the utmost importance and respect. It will become your rock later on when disconnects occur between product managers and their management. The value isn’t so much in having a tool to cover yourself. Rather, documented requirements help you help the customers get on the same page about what is expected.
- Always be an advocate for the end-user. It’s your solemn duty. Whomever your customer is, they care about the end-user, even if they don’t understand how to delight them. Use whatever tools you choose or have available: focus groups, usability studies, contextual inquiry, intuition, whatever. Just make sure you understand the user(s) of the system and that you champion them at every turn. Your customers will thank you (though maybe later).
- Use functional prototypes to narrow the “gap of misunderstanding” up front and get everyone on the same page about what is to be built.
- Prioritize your customers. Understand which is most important to satisfy and take care of the high priority features for the high priority customers first.
- “Just say no” to executive/management pet features. Executives appreciate those who “speak up.” If someone in your management chain tries to get you to add or subtract features and you know in your toes that its the wrong direction, then push back! If you’ve said your piece with all vigor of heart and the answer is still no, then press forward–you’ve done the right thing by speaking up. If having done so becomes a “career limiting move” then you may have the wrong management anyway. I speak from experience. The people in our organization typically take great pleasure in pushing back on me.
Having multiple customers can be a great challenge, but when you mostly satisfy most of them (in priority order) you accomplish something which brings great satisfaction.
Doug Von Feldt said...
The customer also gets more difficult to please or understand when they come from different countries that have different cultures, languages, and values. Globalization in the scale that it is today adds even more complexity to the “Customer” perspective.
May 11, 2007 8:07 pm #
Mark Waite said...
Good insights! Would you consider extending the first bullet from “Start with high level requirements” to “Start with a vision and high level requirements”? My team has struggled too frequently with absence of the “biggest picture” even when they had high level requirements and detailed requirements (user stories).
The “Just say no” bullet is more difficult for me, since “pet features” seem like they should compete against all the other requirements, and that competition in the marketplace of ideas should bring the winning ideas to the top. If the product owner describes the other features that will be sacrificed (or the time that will be added) to provide the “pet features”, and the executive overrides the product owner’s decision, then the competition has taken place and the executive has decided to become the product owner for that part of the product.
May 12, 2007 5:50 am #
Keith Carsten said...
Joel implied several times what I think is really important here, but I am not sure I saw it. That is, that the true customer should take priority. For example, when building a call routing system for a customer service desk, you might be inclined to believe that the customer service desk (CSD) department is your true customer. They are, after all, probably funding your work. But, the real customer is the people the customer service desk services. The CSD may ask you to build a call routing system which put lots of complex menus in front of the true customer because the CSD wants to make sure it directs calls correctly. But, if the true customers abandon calls as a result of the complexity and never truly get served, you probably haven’t satisfied the true customer.
In IT, the true customer often times is voiceless, supposedly represented by business people, subject matter experts, or business analysts. Sometimes, we in IT think we know the true customer best. My experience is that most of the time, nobody represents well the true customer.
I think some of Joel’s rules really help us focus in on this point.
- Prioritize your customers (the squeaky wheel shouldn’t always get the grease)
- Just say no to executive pet features
- Champion them (the true customer) at every turn
- Use focus groups, usability studies and contextual inquiry
In the end, always keep in mind that even the “end users” aren’t always the true customer.
PS: Thanks for coming and presenting to the SF Bay area Joel!
May 12, 2007 11:17 am #
Chris Spear said...
Your suggestions on balancing the competing interests of “The Customer(s)” accomplishes something very important for the IT organization as well as the delivery of a satisfying product to the user.
Standing firm against the temptation to “just get on with the project” without a clear plan, advocating the end-user, prototyping, prioritizing and sometimes saying “no” all serve to establish IT as a partner for process change … not a subservient order taker. When IT steps up to the role of true partner and collaborator for process change … only then can optimal effectiveness can be achieved across all the competing interests.
May 18, 2007 7:15 am #
Chris Spear said...
Correction to Typo in previous post …
Your suggestions on balancing the competing interests of “The Customer(s)” accomplishes something very important for the IT organization as well as the delivery of a satisfying product to the user.
Standing firm against the temptation to “just get on with the project” without a clear plan, advocating the end-user, prototyping, prioritizing and sometimes saying “no” all serve to establish IT as a partner for process change … not a subservient order taker. When IT steps up to the role of true partner and collaborator for process change … only then can optimal effectiveness be achieved across all the competing interests.
May 18, 2007 7:20 am #
Bookslinger said...
Joel, I’m a customer of http://www.ldscatalog.com.
Here’s how you can please me:
1. put the .PDF or .DOC version of “Language Material Listings” online for download. I need to know when something new is available in languages for which there is no Book of Mormon yet. I frequently meet people who speak languages such as Wolof and Yoruba, and occasionally meet people who speak Marathi and Malayalam. I want to have church-produced media that I can give them.
2. Have some kind of sign-up service available at http://www.ldscatalog.com so I can choose a language, and be notified when something new, either printed or video, comes out in that language.
3. Allow customers to order stuff in Yoruba, Wolof, Marathi and Malayalam etc. online. As it is now, I have to order the hard-copy printed version “Language Material Listing”, compare it to my old copy to see if there is anything new on it, then phone in my order.
4. Ask the printing division to please stop running out of the Urdu Book of Mormon, and the Yoruba Gospel Fundamentals. I’m photocopying my last copy of Yoruba Gospel Fundamentals (and got permission to do so from the IP dept), and I had to buy more Urdu BoMs on eBay, and will photocopy it when I get down to my last copy.
5. Indicate more alternate language names at http://www.ldscatalog.com. For instance, everyone I’ve met who speaks “Fula” (about 5 or 6 people so far) calls it “Fulani”. A Google search and further study finally made the connection for me. Also, what the church calls “Hiligaynon”, all the Filipinos I’ve met call “Ilonggo”. I missed several book placement opportunities until I figured that out. And Waray is sometimes called “Samarenyo.”
6. At http://www.Mormon.org, on the page where non-members can request a free Book of Mormon, not all BoM languages are listed. Also, listed incorrectly is “Chinese-Mandarin” where it should be broken down into “Chinese-Simplified Script” and “Chinese-Traditional Script” for printed materials. This is important because many Taiwanese Americans still get indignant when they see the communist-invented Simplified Script. And many of the young immigrants from Mainland China can’t read Traditional Script Chinese.
Please allow the option to get an English copy in addition to their native language copy, for ESL purposes, and for teaching their native language to their children. That’s a big selling point.
As it is now, if I want to give a pass-along card to someone who speaks Shona, and suggest to them that they order a free Shona Book of Mormon online, they can’t. Also, the phone operators at 888-537-2200 generally don’t know about the 103 foreign language editions other than the obvious Spanish, French, etc.
Even though people from Zimbabwe speak English perfectly, giving them a BoM in their native Shona _and_ in English is very important. It’s the “sizzle” that creates excitement about the Book of Mormon.
—————-
This past Saturday, I sponsored a “Book of Mormon Booth” at an African Festival at which many African immigrants attended. The full-time missionaries and I gave out free copies of the Book of Mormon in English, Igbo, Swahili, Amharic, Arabic, Kisii, Twi, French, and Shona.
We also stocked “Gospel Fundamentals” (aka “Gospel Principles Simplified”) and the Joseph Smith Testimony pamphlet in additional African languages which don’t have a Book of Mormon yet. We gave out that material in Bambara, Wolof, and Yoruba.
In September I will sponsor a “Book of Mormon booth” at a Philippines festival and exhibit/distribute the BoM in the 8 Filipino lanaugages: Tagalog, Bikolano, Cebuano, Hiligaynon/Ilonggo, Ilokano, Pampango, Pangasinan, and Waray.
———–
The bottom line is that there are millions of missionary opportunities with the millions of immigrants in the US from Africa, the Middle East, the Indian sub-continent, Asia and the Pacific Islands. And the church is essentially “hiding” the information about material in those languages from members. Such material generates excitement and interest among the speakers of those languages. I’ve had approximately a 90% success rate in the placement of materials with immigrants whom I meet face-to-face.
[Joel: This is great feedback–thank you! I’ve shared your comments directly with the individuals responsible for curriculum and printing. They were grateful.]
August 1, 2007 5:30 am #
ryan said...
I have an odd comment or question but somewhat related to this post for Bro Dehlin. For Pocket PC users that have the newer microsoft pocket pc operating system what would you recommend for chuch publication downloads? Such as the scriptures, lesson books, etc…
[Joel: I don’t have a recommendation, but I’d be interested in what the community thinks… ?]
August 12, 2007 9:23 pm #