Before launching a program on Whistle, its good to take a few minutes to clarify your objectives and plan.  In many cases administrators already know their goals and are implementing Whistle as part of a larger strategy.  Either way, taking a minute to write down your goals will go a long way to ensuring success.


1. Discovery

The goal of the discovery phase is to collect and organize information to inform the design process.  The information can come from stakeholder interviews, management feedback, survey results, data analysis – any information source that could inform the design process.

 

To help with the discovery process, Whistle created a series of questions for client stakeholders that help shape our collective understanding of success and how that success will be measured.  These questions (and answers) help inform who should be involved, potential resources needed, timeframes and barriers that could prevent success – all critical elements to the design process.


Questions to consider as part of discovery:

  • What is happening and what is not working today?  Describe the current scenario to make sure we are clear on the areas that need to be improved. Include the current friction points. Note the current barriers to success – processes, perceptions or other factors.
  • What is success?  What specific metric(s) will prove this program worked showing business impact (e.g. increased sales volume)? 
  • Who are the stakeholders? Stakeholders could be people participating in the program or the people who need to support the project to be successful. Think about each group, what would potentially get them supportive of the project and what role they are expected to play in achieving success. (e.g. HR, IT, channel partners)
  • What resources will be needed? Resources could be people, partnership or budgets to support a new effort. Consider if these resources are accessible or if additional time or stakeholders will need to be involved to secure. (e.g. people’s time, budget)


You can always include more information but these four will cover some of your basics.  You can also ask Whistle to help with this process!


2. Design