The importance of storyboards and the greater importance of gaining consensus!

For all those folks out there that work on bridging teams and systems, you'll be familiar with the importance of building both consensus and storyboards. System functionality can be described and presented in a variety of ways - and if you don't storyboard with your constituents of what they will see & do, you will inevitably end with a solution that you will have to re-engage at some point in the future (unless you are born under a lucky star).

But the other half of matching business needs with system design is gaining consensus.  If you are relatively new to this, THIS will take the most time out of your project plan.

If you do it right, you will have to:

• Explain the current situation
• Explain why something isn't working, not giving them what they expect, educating them on why something won't do something, pointing out 3rd party data that validates what you just explained to them, remind them of their objectives, remind them of the system limits, play judge and jury when two parties can't agree, start all over again, explain again why something isn't working, point out that the current solution is not giving them what they expect, educating them on why something won't do something, pointing out 3rd party data that validates what you just explained to them, remind them of their objectives......
• Take a coffee break
• Show them the storyboards of recommendations
• Explain the storyboards
• Explain the storyboards again
• Explain the storyboards to the group that weren't paying attention the first two times
• Realize that you're out of time during this meeting
• Set up another meeting
• Start back in gaining consensus by explaining the situation......

And so the cycle continues.....

For all the #nerds and #nerdgirls out there, THIS is why you not only have to storyboard the solution but GAIN consensus!