First of all, let me explain what I intend to do with my blog. My main aim is to share my experiences with you. Some of you may agree with what I am saying and find it useful in your own jobs, others may not. Even if you don’t find it useful or you disagree with what I say, I am hoping you will comment and share your own experiences with readers. Between us hopefully we can solve some problems and prevent others occurring!

Requirements gathering, not as simple as it sounds!

My first blog is about something that can easily occur on web projects.
It sounds obvious I know, but in many large scale web projects it is all too easy to forget about the end user when gathering requirements.

The internal demands can dictate the agenda

Particularly in large organisations or large projects, all too often it is the many internal stakeholders that drive web project requirements and not the end user. Time can become a big issue, there simply may not be the time to gather requirements from all stakeholders so requirements are prioritised to those with a bigger say.

On several projects I have seen elements of the final solution be completely specified from within the organisation based on perceived best practice and internal demands. Although this means the final solution may be delivered in time and meet the basic requirements, it rarely leads to a good user experience. In fact, in my experience this approach leads to further work down the line to correct issues resulting from usability testing and user feedback.

To some degree it is inevitable that internal requirements may drive the agenda.  Internal management usually decide a project is required and control the purse strings. Project owners will inevitably try to engage with these internal stakeholders to satisfy their requirements and therefore further their own careers.

After all, if a project owner delivers a project that meets all internal stakeholder requirements it is likely the project will be deemed a success and everyone will be happy. Everyone that is, except the end user!

Don’t be scared to engage end users

To make matters worse many organisations are often scared to ask end users opinions for fear of negative feedback and raised expectations. Given these scenarios it is easy to see how the end user can be forgotten or ignored.

If you find yourself capturing requirements for a web project, my advice is to not fear the end users, but engage them as early as you can. More and more these days end users want to engage in a constructive way with companies to improve their own experience. With social media now the staple diet of the web, users expect and indeed demand interaction with each other and the websites they use.

Companies should embrace their audience, encourage feedback and use this information to help inform internal stakeholders who can then tailor their demands accordingly. After all, without happy end users your websites will soon perish!

Gathering user feedback does not have to be a time consuming or expensive process either. Tools such as SurveyMonkey make online surveys incredibly easy to create and good value.
Engaging end users early in the process will save you time and effort in the long term and ensure a better end product.

The end user is King!

So in conclusion, it may seem silly, but in the thick of a project, with tight deadlines and many internal stakeholders wanting a say, it is easy to forget the end user.

Remember, the end user is king, engage or die!