Design Thinking for Innovation Course Reflection: Storytelling

By Vero Reyes

Challenge   One of the biggest challenges I face as a Project Manager in the technology industry is keeping  my Clients on the same page as our internal development team, especially in the face of  problems that need to be solved. It can be difficult to find the right balance between over- sharing and collaboration within the Client-Consultant relationship; you don’t want to “cry  wolf” too early or often, but you also don’t want your Clients to feel blindsided when a problem  arises that they didn’t see coming.     Specifically, I found when the need for an increase in budget (e.g. Change Order) would arise,  many of my Clients didn’t understand where the need was coming from and it immediately  created distrust that more budget was being requested without a clear understanding of how  we got there. Upon further reflection, I realized that in an effort to present ourselves as  Consultants who had a plan for solving every issue before our Clients were even aware the  issue existed, that I was leaving them out of the entire process of collaboration and problem  solving.    Selection  While there is a temptation as Consultants to only “put our best foot forward” in front of our  Clients and shield them from an issue until we have a solution in mind, it became clear that this  approach doesn’t foster understanding – especially when the challenges result in the need for  more funding. I realized we weren’t bringing our Clients along for the journey. With this in  mind, I started thinking of ways we can better “show and tell” to Clients through the ups and  downs on projects, while still maintaining a productive relationship. The power of storytelling is  an excellent tool to help find this balance. As noted in the course videos, “It’s not about a to-do  list; it’s about connection” – and Storytelling is the vehicle for that connection.    Application  As a way of finding a practical way to start Storytelling with my Clients, I rolled out a project  RAID (Risks, Assumptions, Issues, Decisions) Log and requested that we prioritize reviewing the  list once a week with Clients. It was imperative that I didn’t just email this list, but instead we  set aside time to “story tell” and talk through it front to end so there was both understanding  and co-ownership of risks, assumptions, issues and decisions. This created open communication  to take Clients on the journey with us for all the potential issues I was seeing on the horizon,  but also proactively talk about potential solutions before issues became a reality. Within the  RAID Log, we would link to reports and projections and use real-time data to help story tell  where we were at and where we were going. In many ways, the seemingly simple review of this  RAID Log provided the foundation for honest collaboration that allowed us to evaluate the hard  data I was seeing and align that to risks and mitigation plans.    Secondly, as also noted in the training course, true Storytelling can only happen when a clear  sequence of events can be followed from beginning to end. With this in mind, we also started

including our Clients in our Sprint Planning meetings in which we created Stories and spread  those Stories into Sprints so the Client could visually see what the path forward looked like. This  was imperative to our Storytelling because it allowed the Client to be a part of the planning  process, but also identify risks with us as we were planning together. Previously, we had  conducted these meetings internally. Conducting these meetings with our Clients allowed them  to see how tasks/bugs were laying out across Sprints, how the timeline and budget were  panning out, and ultimately gave us the chance to tell a story of how we saw this working or  not working – and then it gave our Clients the change to become a part of that story early on by  providing us with input and seeing what we were seeing from the get-go.     Finally, if and when an increase in budget or timeline extension was needed, we leaned again  on the data we were gathering from the plan we created. We could calculate Sprint velocity to  help us project whether or not we were going to meet our target. Giving the Client live access  to these reports ensured they always knew where the project was headed.    Insight & Approach  Once I instituted this new approach of transparent “Storytelling” with my Clients, and we came  to a point where we needed to extend our project timeline to accommodate some issues we  had encountered, my Clients were much more open to it than they had in the past. In fact,  there was one Client who pointed out the need for a scope extension to me before I even  approached them on the issue because they had been a part of the Story and following along  with us from the beginning through the use of the RAID Log, ongoing Sprint Planning every 2  weeks, and live reporting. Through the power of Storytelling, the conversation with our Clients  shifted from feeling like a timeline/budget extension was “happening to them” to them  proactively managing risks and issues with us, and ultimately allowing the conversation to focus  on solutions and options.     Ultimately, the level of engagement, passion, and collaboration went up despite challenges  because both Clients and Consultants were on the same page of the Story and aware of how we  arrived at both problem and solution.


Design Thinking for Innovation Course Reflection : Storytelling By Vero Reyes Challenge One of the biggest challenges I face as a Project Manager in the technology industry is keeping my Clients on the same page as our internal development team , especially in the face of problems that need to be solved . It can be difficult to find the right balance between over- sharing and collaboration within the Client - Consultant relationship ; you do n’t want to “ cry wolf ” too early or often , but you also do n’t want your Clients to feel blindsided when a problem arises that they did n’t see coming . Specifically , I found when the need for an increase in budget ( e.g. Change Order ) would arise , many of my Clients did n’t understand where the need was coming from and it immediately created distrust that more budget was being requested without a clear understanding of how we got there . Upon further reflection , I realized that in an effort to present ourselves as Consultants who had a plan for solving every issue before our Clients were even aware the issue existed , that I was leaving them out of the entire process of collaboration and problem solving . Selection While there is a temptation as Consultants to only “ put our best foot forward ” in front of our Clients and shield them from an issue until we have a solution in mind , it became clear that this approach does n’t foster understanding – especially when the challenges result in the need for more funding . I realized we were n’t bringing our Clients along for the journey . With this in mind , I started thinking of ways we can better “ show and tell ” to Clients through the ups and downs on projects , while still maintaining a productive relationship . The power of storytelling is an excellent tool to help find this balance . As noted in the course videos , “ It ’s not about a to - do list ; it ’s about connection ” – and Storytelling is the vehicle for that connection . Application As a way of finding a practical way to start Storytelling with my Clients , I rolled out a project RAID ( Risks , Assumptions , Issues , Decisions ) Log and requested that we prioritize reviewing the list once a week with Clients . It was imperative that I did n’t just email this list , but instead we set aside time to “ story tell ” and talk through it front to end so there was both understanding and co - ownership of risks , assumptions , issues and decisions . This created open communication to take Clients on the journey with us for all the potential issues I was seeing on the horizon , but also proactively talk about potential solutions before issues became a reality . Within the RAID Log , we would link to reports and projections and use real - time data to help story tell where we were at and where we were going . In many ways , the seemingly simple review of this RAID Log provided the foundation for honest collaboration that allowed us to evaluate the hard data I was seeing and align that to risks and mitigation plans . Secondly , as also noted in the training course , true Storytelling can only happen when a clear sequence of events can be followed from beginning to end . With this in mind , we also started including our Clients in our Sprint Planning meetings in which we created Stories and spread those Stories into Sprints so the Client could visually see what the path forward looked like . This was imperative to our Storytelling because it allowed the Client to be a part of the planning process , but also identify risks with us as we were planning together . Previously , we had conducted these meetings internally . Conducting these meetings with our Clients allowed them to see how tasks / bugs were laying out across Sprints , how the timeline and budget were panning out , and ultimately gave us the chance to tell a story of how we saw this working or not working – and then it gave our Clients the change to become a part of that story early on by providing us with input and seeing what we were seeing from the get - go . Finally , if and when an increase in budget or timeline extension was needed , we leaned again on the data we were gathering from the plan we created . We could calculate Sprint velocity to help us project whether or not we were going to meet our target . Giving the Client live access to these reports ensured they always knew where the project was headed . Insight & Approach Once I instituted this new approach of transparent “ Storytelling ” with my Clients , and we came to a point where we needed to extend our project timeline to accommodate some issues we had encountered , my Clients were much more open to it than they had in the past . In fact , there was one Client who pointed out the need for a scope extension to me before I even approached them on the issue because they had been a part of the Story and following along with us from the beginning through the use of the RAID Log , ongoing Sprint Planning every 2 weeks , and live reporting . Through the power of Storytelling , the conversation with our Clients shifted from feeling like a timeline / budget extension was “ happening to them ” to them proactively managing risks and issues with us , and ultimately allowing the conversation to focus on solutions and options . Ultimately , the level of engagement , passion , and collaboration went up despite challenges because both Clients and Consultants were on the same page of the Story and aware of how we arrived at both problem and solution .