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Big Decisions Are Hard

As a business owner, making decisions about the best course of action for your website can be a daunting task. If you get overwhelmed or trapped in indecision, it can lead to rejecting a potentially great solution in favor of what seems to be an easier path. This was the case for one of our clients who was struggling to decide how to proceed with their website build problem. They had talked with a number of agencies and consultants in an effort to learn about their options but were unable to decide on a clear plan of action.

Discovery and Recommendations

As part of their search, they engaged Solspace for a paid Discovery process. We conducted a thorough assessment of their business needs and technical issues and delivered our recommendations with a proposal for working together with our proven process for identifying, discussing, and solving their issue in a thorough and systematic way. Our process is designed to support our clients in making informed decisions and incorporates their unique needs and goals. Investing this kind of time in deliberate, detailed planning leads to the very efficient and successful execution of the right solution.

Walking Away

To our surprise, the client didn’t agree with our recommendation and decided to go with another agency that promised a faster turnaround time with less detailed planning. Unfortunately, the client soon realized that they were headed down the wrong path, and the solution provided by the other agency was not going to fully address their needs. They also found that the agency didn’t have the skills needed to build out what they’d planned for. Frustrated and unsure of what to do next, they came back to Solspace for help. This time, they were ready to trust our expertise.

Identify

The “IDS” problem-solving process we use at Solspace has three main steps - identify, discuss, and solve. It’s a more disciplined version of typical problem-solving. First, the problem or issue is identified. We ask, “how do we know that’s true?” and spend time gathering evidence to validate our ideas and find the root cause of the problem. Part of the “identify” step is also getting very clear about the business case, and the impact of the problem on the organization and its customers. It takes time and focus, but investing in this first step is the key to the success of the other steps.

Discuss

Once we’ve clearly identified the problem, the next step is to discuss it. This involves bringing together relevant stakeholders on the client side to share their perspectives with the Solspace team, help brainstorm possible solutions, and work with us to evaluate the risks and opportunities that come with each potential solution. This is the part where we put everything we can think of on the table and facilitate open, honest conversation about all of the things that aren’t working well, how the client and their customers use the website, and what a successful outcome will look like for everyone involved.

Solve

The final step in the process is to decide on the most appropriate solution and how best to develop and implement it. Since we dig deep into the business problems and incorporate our Web Reliability framework in looking at the entire context, this set of decisions can take some time too. The right solution for solving the business problem and the technical website problems may also require the client to make a commitment to updating policies, procedures, or workflows, as well as making sure internal communication and training for employees will support successful implementation.

IDS Can Get Your Clients Unstuck

For website owners who are feeling overwhelmed and indecisive, the prospect of going through an intensive three-step process like IDS before even getting a proposal can feel like too much. But not having all of the information they need to make good decisions can just lead them to dig deeper and deeper into the problem. Time and money get burned, goodwill gets burned, and the problem still doesn’t get solved. It's important to trust the expertise of professionals who have a proven process for identifying, discussing, and solving your issues. The client in this story learned this the hard way but was ultimately able to get back on track. So, if you're facing similar challenges, don't hesitate to seek out the help of experts who can guide you through the decision-making process.