By Adrienne Smith
It’s tempting to keep Discovery lean, especially with design and development taking up a lot of time and budget. But investing in this critical phase will lead to big payoffs throughout your project and beyond.
Here are four reasons to give Discovery the attention it deserves:
- You’ll enhance stakeholder alignment. Give yourself time to engage stakeholders in the process and understand their perspectives in depth. When it comes to getting buy-in, stakeholder involvement beats quick results any day.
- You’ll shine a light on the unknown. Discovery is a chance to challenge your assumptions and uncover your blind spots. You’ll be amazed at the information you can uncover—and the value of that information.
- Your project will go more smoothly. A thorough Discovery phase helps you balance the viability, desirability, and feasibility of potential solutions. It’ll focus and align your team, preventing scope creep and reducing costly iterations and miscommunications.
- You’ll build a more valuable solution. The insights you gain will ensure you meet the needs of your most important users, and empower you to build a better product that stands the test of time.
Let’s look at a real-life example below. We’ll explore the Discovery phase of an ongoing website redesign that Evolving Web is working on with the York University School of the Arts, Media, Performance, and Design (AMPD).
Side note: we explored this case study in detail during our Discovering Discovery session at the EvolveDrupal Toronto summit last fall. You can catch more talks like this at EvolveDrupal EvolveDrupal NYC on September 20.
Alt: Two presenters at EvolveDrupal
Caption: “Discovering Discovery” session at EvolveDrupal Toronto, a tech and design summit hosted by Evolving Web that united 180+ professionals.
Get Stakeholder Alignment
Evolving Web helped YorkU AMPD to consult more than a third of its staff and faculty during the Discovery phase. We involved them in questionnaires and surveys, a user journey workshop, and a visual design workshop.
It was certainly challenging to manage 75 stakeholders, but we knew the importance of getting widespread input and alignment. There was a risk that staff and faculty would do their own thing if they felt let down by the school’s digital presence. We wanted to avoid this, as it would create inconsistencies and a disconnection from the main YorkU brand.
Involving stakeholders was an amazing way to build trust and buy-in, as they felt heard and gained a sense of ownership. Sometimes they were invited to observe only, but they still appreciated being kept in the loop and could see how decisions had been reached.
We could also keep future conversations on track by referring back to findings and agreements from the questionnaires and workshops. This frequently saved us from retreading old ground.
Uncover the Unknown
The school was surprised by the differences we found within their pre-defined audience segments. Our workshops revealed that prospective students didn’t all want the same treatment! Nuanced approaches were needed for different groups—including Ontario high school students, transfer students, out-of-province students, and international students.
We also found disadvantages to lumping donors and alums together. What’s more, the workshops highlighted ways that alums give back to the school beyond donating money—such as employing students and delivering talks.
These insights were translated into personas and user journeys, which inform design and development. Findings like these are invaluable for elevating the user experience!
Elevate Your Project
A few years before our collaboration with the school, its communications team overhauled the website in just four months. There was virtually no consultation with other staff and faculty—and the consequences of skipping Discovery quickly became clear.
There were good reasons for rushing: the school urgently needed to move its services and lessons online due to COVID-19. But it did mean that there were several oversights. For example, there was a heavy focus on prospective students at the expense of other audiences. Also, many stakeholders weren’t aligned with the changes.
Ultimately, it was a temporary solution. When the school approached Evolving Web, they knew from experience that it pays to invest in Discovery. “There’s value in taking time, and in a multiphased approach because of the iterative possibilities it presents,” said Ian Barcarse, Director of Communications & Digital Engagement at York University.
In fact, Discovery has delivered value well beyond YorkU AMPD’s website redesign. The school uses its outcomes—including personas, user journeys, and differentiators—to improve their wider approach to communications, engagement, and services.
We’re excited to help AMPD launch their new website soon! Keep an eye out for the upcoming case study to see how the other phases of the project went. In the meantime, check out our case studies for YorkU Markham Campus, OCAD U, and Princeton International.
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Article originally published on the Evolving Web blog, 5 Surprising Findings That’ll Change How You See Discovery