We had a meeting a few days ago with a rep at one of our clients. Unlike the series of Senior Managers we had been talking to, this client was a trainer for the product we are doing some substantial revisions on - and we learned more about it’s capabilities and the histories of use in 20 minutes from him than we could have in months of studying the app. The actual users are always preferable, but with this client this was as near as we could get.



So what do you do with that information once you have it? What is the best way to cut that iceberg of information into usable pieces ?  And iceberg is the right term, because most of it is still hidden.

We decided to separate & each write our own version of the truth. Then to reconvene and compare/contrast/collect the ideas we heard while brainstorming more. This way we each define our individual perceptions, without the dynamics of personality minimizing contributions. We have tried this numerous times & found it highly effective for maximizing creative ideation.

And it is worth noting that information gathering at this phase is anything but linear. There are snippets of narrative, hard parameters that must be recognized, ideas that immediately strike you as being part of a larger solution.

Capturing these, sorting them and keeping them available to the team is an ongoing challenge to which there are both simple & complex solutions. These can range from the utility of having a well designed directory with ongoing and meta class folders to wiki solutions that enable sophisticated search.

The expedient group tool is Basecamp by 37 signals. While the solution is determined by utility, cost & scale, the clarity of the taxonomy is extremely important to an effective deployment. Remember that your audience is busy & not inclined to use the documentation unless they absolutely have to -  it is a good idea to make it crystal clear.