How to align your stakeholders on the same dang problem.
Are you “working on” or more like trying to work on a project and all the stakeholders involved think the problem is this that and the other, but nobody agrees on what you should be solving?
Check out this Problem Alignment Workshop created for product teams to get on the same page.
Use this great adaptable workshop and feel confident in knowing that everyone is focused on the same problem.
This workshop will:
Align team on the product/ feature vision.
Uncover opportunities for your product/ feature.
Get the team ideating on important obstacles and blockers related to opportunities.
Align the team on what to start solving first.
What is it?
The problem alignment workshop is an exercise for getting the team to hear each other's thoughts and begin the product design process with the teams’ collective thoughts.
This can be for a current product or a new concept.
Problem alignment is the first step in the process? -Nope.
Where does problem alignment stand in the design process?
Problem alignment is a step in the understanding phase of the design process.
The first step is just getting started, if it happens to be problem alignment, then so be it.
This workshop is best when run in the beginning or understanding stages of a project.
It will help the team gather information and challenge assumptions. It relates to understanding our stakeholders and our participants, helps us explore existing knowledge, and will help define the root of your problem.
Aligning the team with a problem to get started with is one of many actions that could be taken in the understanding phase of design. I like to ideally be doing other actions in parallel to aligning the team with a problem. To be short, the problem alignment workshop should not be the first or only exercise ran in the understanding phase of the design process.
I like to run the problem alignment workshop in the middle of my understanding phase.
Timeline of the understanding phase of the design process
Who should facilitate?
Anyone with the time to prepare and practice can run the problem alignment workshop.
Maybe you’re stepping out of your comfort zone, working on holding more productive meetings, or a workshop pro as long as you follow the instructions you should be fine.
Do you feel like you need a hand with facilitation? We can help out.
Who should participate?
For the problem alignment workshop, anyone on the team considered a stakeholder or subject matter expert.
I think it’s best to have a good mix of different segments from the business.
“Having cross-functional team members with insights based on real data (either from research or from being in the field interacting with users/customers).
How many people should participate?
For the problem alignment workshop:
3-7 is my magic range.
3 is the bare minimum.
4-5 is ideal.
5-7 can be tricky but still very effective.
How long will this take?
30-60 minutes.
Although the workshop is timeboxed, the length of the workshop is usually fairly dependent on the number of participants. The more participants the longer you can expect the workshop to run.
You got this, my friend.
With an adaptable design process, you’ll be able to make this Problem Alignment Workshop your own.
