How to sell digital projects to your boss
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Transcript of How to sell digital projects to your boss
How to Sell Digital Projects to your Boss
www.juliestarr.co.nzVisualising the way we work@starrjulie
…and everyone else you work with
New Plymouth, New Zealand, February 2014
Got a parking ticket
A Reconstruction
Paying my parking ticket online
CLICK
I started with a search engine
I scrolled down the home page
CLICK
CLICK
I see ‘parking tickets’. That looks promising.
Huh?
It takes me a while to realise I’ve ‘landed’ on the same page
I notice a helpful looking image so I scroll for more
I see Parking Ticket. Yes!
CLICK
Really?
I have to promise not to break the system. Gosh.
Jump to the left
A new window opens.
Oh… Here!
Please use the ticket number….?
Maybe I’ll try…
Erm?
I typed it in wrong. Now what do I do?
What?No!!!
Can’t use back button because I’m in a new window again.
So I start at the beginning …
16Steps
! … before I get anywhere near entering my credit card details
Sigh
We want to make life better for users
But not everyone in our ‘legacy’ organisations understands what we’re trying to do
Do what we’ve always done, but put it online too
Online
=Some people think
Do what we’ve always done, but throw it in an app
Mobile
=Some people think
Those people are wrong
Process for Sharing Council Minutes (for a long time)
THE INTERNET HAPPENS
Put the PDF online
Process for Sharing Council Minutes (now)
PDF?Really
?
Does process give users what they want? No.
This is what a PDF looks like at readable size on a mobile phone. 22 pages of this?Accessible? NO!
“PDFs are where information goes to die”
free!Set the information
Responsive design won’t fix this problem. It’s a process problem.
We can’t do what we’ve always done and just ‘put it online’ at the end
It doesn’t work.
The Daily TelegraphLondon | 2006…
Print team
Web team
THE INTERNET TAKES OFF
We needed to publish way more on our website
But we couldn’t afford to hire another 100 people
We had to look at the way we did things
The Daily TelegraphLondon | 2007
Integrated Web-and-Print Newsroom
A few things I learnedabout ‘selling digital’
Get serious
If you want people to take Digital seriously, you have to elevate the status of Digital in the organisation
Put the Head of Digitalat the top of the org chart
Everyone should talk to Digital before they start any project anywhere
Intervene here
Don’t just take what you’re given
here & throw it online
Output XML
CloutYou need
Steal people who ‘get it’ and put them on the web team
Hire people who already knowwhat they’re doing.
Don’t drownBreak it down
You have a world of problems to solve
Start
Should we fix ALL the payment processes at the same time?Should we make one site for the whole country?Maybe we should wait until the new _______ arrives in _______?Etcetera etcetera etcetera
All The QuestionsTry not to get side-tracked by
Improve something today
+ keep working on the big fix
We can simplify this process without going near the transaction engine
1. Remove anchors, tighten text and let people scroll to those helpful images.
2. Link directly to parking ticket payment page.
3. Make ticket number entry box bigger and move up page.
4. If must have T&Cs put tick box here: ‘By using this service you agree to our T&Cs.’
Suggestion
Example of a simple but effective widget added to a page (not a big budget thing at all)
http://wellington.govt.nz/services/environment-and-waste/rubbish-and-recycling
Visualise itBuild, sketch, map
Seeing is believing
We’ve been using pictures to communicate for a long time. It works.http://www.citrinitas.com/history_of_viscom/rockandcaves.html
“We show videos of struggling people to managers – way more effective in getting them to understand.”
– Ruth Brown, Head of User Experience, TradeMe, ALGIM 2014
ProblemNewspaper people didn’t see why the web should affect their daily routine
Really simplified overview of a day in the newsroom (for a long, long time)
THE INTERNET HAPPENS
Copy & paste/ import into website, autopublish at 5am
… what are people reading at 8am, 12pm, 5pm?
If stories are filed at 6pm…
Does process give readers what they want? No.
+ Earlier start
+ Earlier conference
+ Better planning
+ Stories filed during day
+ Talk to Digital FIRST not last
We started changing the way we did things. (Still a long way to go.)
Problem Skilled designers spent hours each day assembling the puzzles page
Draw it & boss immediately understands how convoluted the process is
ProblemWe got stuck on the differences between web and print publishing
Print Publishing Process (Top Level Snapshot)
So we drew the print publishing process…
Web Publishing Process (Top Level Snapshot)
… and the web publishing process…
Combined Web-and-Print Publishing Process (Top Level Snapshot)
…and put it all together. See it. Build on commonality. Eliminate nonsense.
Problem Newspaper people didn’t understand what website people were talking about
De-mystify. Have workshops. Make posters! Share what you know.
Put some numbers around itMake your case more convincing
Be Specific
“Everyone’s got smartphones so we should totally do something for mobile.”
“Over half of visits to TradeMe are on Mobile – and it’s still growing.”- Ruth Brown, Head of User Experience, TradeMe, ALGIM 2014
“68% of NZ internet users connected through their mobile phone in the past year – 48% through a tablet.”- World Internet Project NZ Report 2013
Write for your
AudienceRelevant Accessible Attention
How does this project benefit my boss?
…want this project
Boss is responsible for… CUSTOMERS
Boss’s Job TitleAnnual Plan
This project:1.Gives
customers what they asked for2.Helps with that thing my boss cares about3. Contributes to goals 1 & 2 of the Annual Plan
Those are your keywords right there
How can I help my boss sell this to their boss?
Use Plain EnglishAccessibility
We’re going to mumble scrape mumble
backend and parse mumble
mumble Hadoop mumble mumble
Heartbleed and ruby mumble
responsive mumble parallax and SVG mumble html5
Make it easy for customers to pay a bill on their mobile & computer
VisualsNumbersWordsGreat. Now your boss can explain it to their
boss
One more challenge
onepageAll the bosses are busy
Attention
Get Serious elevate status of DigitalDon’t drown break it downVisualise it build, sketch, mapPut some numbers around it be convincingWrite for your audience relevant, Plain EnglishOne page hold attention
Thanks!
www://juliestarr.co.nz@starrjulie