Communication can make or break any project. And consistently maintaining good communication can feel like herding cats. Learn how the false consensus effect and various facets of communication can work for you and help keep people and projects moving in a positive direction. A presentation given at the Federal Reserve’s 2015 Joint Web Developers Group Exchange (WEDGE) and Editors & Designers Conference on September 23, 2015, in Kansas City, Missouri.

1. Herding Catsor tales from a never ending journey to better communication.
@kylejohnston

2. What the customer
wanted
What the project
analyst documented
What the designer
delivered
What the developer
produced

3. What the customer
wanted
What the project
analyst documented
What the designer
delivered
What the developer
produced
The false
consensus effect

4. What the customer
wanted
What the project
analyst documented
What the designer
delivered
What the developer
produced
The false
consensus effectWe all overestimate how much our own views and ideas
are shared by others.

5. Communication

6. Style
Timing
Assumptions
Expectations
Silos
Clarity
Communication

7. Assumptions
“I thought you knew…”

8. Style
“It was in my email”

9. Timing
“This shouldn’t take long…”

10. Expectations
“Where’s the rest of it?”

11. Silos
“I thought your team was doing
that…”

12. Clarity
“I’ll know it when I see it”

13. A tale of woe

14. It started one
September…

15. The Ask.
Create a 60-second TV spot.
Due: January 12.
Stakeholders: Marketing – US & Europe.

21. What did we
learn?

22. Post-mortems
Discuss and document what did &
didn’t work.
Determine what you standardize and
what you never, ever repeat.

23. A tale of hope.

24. It started one
September…

25. The Ask.
Provide front-end design and UI for
a website redesign.
Timeline: 5 weeks.
Stakeholder: Startup founder.

26. The Ask.
Provide front-end design and UI for
a website redesign.
Timeline: 5 weeks.
Stakeholder: Startup founder.

29. What did we
learn?

30. Good communication =
Ensures all contributors have a clear
understanding of goals and
constraints.
Success on a tight timeline.

31. Style
Timing
Assumptions
Expectations
Silos
Clarity
Communication

32. Assumptions
Assume they may know something
you don’t.
Assume they don’t know something
you do.

33. Style
Designers vs Devs vs …
All have different frames of reference,
lingo, and understanding of roles.
Remember the false consensus effect.

34. Timing
What’s realistic?
Clients seldom consider other
projects, priorities, availability, etc.
Remember the false consensus effect.

35. Expectations
Get on the same page as
early as possible.

36. Silos
Don’t toss your work
over the fence.
Take the time to share your thought process and discuss
how you arrived at a particular solution.

37. Clarity
Be detailed and specific.
You will probably need to repeat
yourself.
Remember the false consensus effect.

38. 5 key takeaways.

39. 1.
It’s not easy.
A. B. C.
Always. Be. Communicating.

40. 2.
What you allow is
what will continue.
If you don’t (professionally) enforce your boundaries,
clients won’t respect them.

41. 3.
Find the story.
It’s easier to share the story of your project than expect everyone to read
and understand email chains, project documentation, and other ephemera.

42. 4.
Ask “why.”
Don’t just make the change, understand the motivations behind a request.

43. 5.
Clarity benefits
from repetition.
When you’re tired of saying something, it’s starting to sink in.
Remember the false consensus effect.

44. Thank you.
@kylejohnston