By Corey Vilhauer CHAPTER 10passenger. We may have kids, but that doesn’t mean we can speak for
every parent. We may be a huge fan of the newest Daft Punk album, but
that doesn’t mean we can speak the multitudes who also enjoy the new
Daft Punk album. So we must find and talk to the people who can speak for
these audiences: the audiences themselves.
We begin by gathering everyone in for a big information-gathering
discovery meeting. The meeting might take 30 minutes, it might take sev-
eral hours. What matters is that it happens, and that the right people are
involved. This means you need to find someone from every relevant area of
the organization. The list might include, but is not limited to, representa-
tives from:
- Marketing
- Creative/Web
- IT
- Product Development
- Front-line Service
- Executive Board
- Business Development
The range of attendees is wide on purpose. Every area of the company
has a different lease on Web content, and they all work differently to make
Web content happen.
Members of IT can talk about their needs and limitations, especially
as it relates to content workflow, while someone from product develop-
ment or sales can discuss the murmurs they hear outside of the company.
Front-line service is key to capturing the thoughts of disgruntled users or
customers, while the executive board will shed light on potential business
strategy and will appreciate being part of the project.
Different voices bring different solutions. If your initial discovery
meeting involves just a few members from marketing, you’re going to run
into trouble.