Digithoughts

Have you been in this situation before? You are full of ideas for new features, upgrades, fixes or new projects that you would like to implement on your existing website or application. But before you can get started you need to secure buy-in from your co-workers/team/boss and get the budget you need to make those changes. The following steps are designed to provide you with the research, solutions and cost/benefit scenarios that might come in handy when making your case and getting your budget approved. Going down your list, examine all items on it:

1. Start by answering this question: What is in it for the company? Can the improvements you are suggesting generate more revenue? Save costs? Reduce frustration? Make a process more efficient? If you can't come up with a benefit, for either the company or the users, take that project off your list.
2. Prioritize your projects by asking: How much impact will this change have? (Step 2 is probably the hardest to complete.) This is a great place to look for some data that can validate your request. For example - How much money/time could be saved, how much additional revenue could be made. Exact numbers might be hard to come by, but make sure to at least identify whether a project will make a high or a low impact if implemented. Add the numbers or low/high value descriptions to the projects.
3. Now let's get to the changes you would like to see: What needs to done and how much will it cost to do it? This step might require you to do research or work with partners inside or outside your organization to determine what the best course of action is and how much it will cost. Add the cost for each implementation to the project list.
4. Put together what you found out in step 2 and 3: Which project has the greatest cost/benefit ratio? Sort your list to show which project is the most cost effective with the highest impact on the business. That's the one you should start to pitch.

In some cases data is readily available to assign a (monetary) value to a feature, this is mostly the case for anything that leads to a purchasing conversion in the next step. In a lot of other cases the value is more intangible. For example - improving the experience a person has with a brand or influencing brand perception, might have positive effects on the bottom line in the future, but assigning a dollar value to it is difficult. In those instances assigning high and low business values can help with prioritizing a project. Knowing how a feature is valued within the company can help tremendously in pushing it through to completion. Engaging different stakeholders within the company in the decision making process can sometimes uncover differences over what is perceived as important and most impactful by different departments within the company. Involving everybody in the organization who will be touched by the proposed changes can pay off immensely in the long run, even though at times those can be difficult conversations to have. Individuals who have a part in arriving at a solution are generally more invested in the project's overall completion and success and ensures that everybody is on the same page. Assigning an expected value (monetary or otherwise) to a task is a good way to quantify whether a project can be regarded as a success or a failure after launch. Both outcomes can be used to your advantage, either pointing to your positive track record, or giving you the opportunity to learn from faulty assumptions and improving on them. Armed with your research you are now ready to discuss your projects. Good luck and let us know how it goes.

Julia Hinger Manager, User Experience

Read more from the User Experience category. If you would like to leave a comment, click here: Comment or stay up to date with this post via RSS, or you can Trackback from your site.