How can you encourage user feedback during system transformation?

Engagement is an ongoing action. Continuous engagement while change is *not* taking place establishes a relationship with your users and can help with them perceiving that you are working in their interests. One must also strive to emphasize the benefits of the change for the users, in terms and measurements they understand. Finally, and perhaps the most important aspect, is to listen to them, and when possible incorporate that feedback into the change process.

In my experience, change is not well received and there is always resistance to promote change. I understand that change and improvements take time to not only identify/resolve, but to also implement. Aligning with the SMART methodology and sharing the plan/scope helps to not only identify the need or objective, but also identify the plan how to be successful in achieving the goal as a cohesive unit. Change and system transformation work best when the plan is inclusive of all the incumbents that are part of the system, helps promote trust and promotes the vested interest from all for positive change.

Engage users on transformation? Why wait? You should already be engaging your users. Engage them NOW, on a schedule. Invite, bribe, humor... go the extra mile to get their feedback and thoughts. If you wait for a particular project, or event, you're already too late. Without your users, who are you anyway? You're nothing but an unused, useless app / program / project that misses the mark.

Change is always challenging. It's not only important to clearly define your goals and scope but also to gain the engagement of the community and stakeholders that the transformation will affect. The transformation must address, resolve, or enhance the user experience. It should tackle existing challenges without adding unnecessary complexity. You can apply the SMART approach or any other methodology, but without a compelling story in which users are actively engaged and their voices are heard, you may not make much progress and can expect resistance.

User feedback is a continuous process. It is dependent on the user experience, benefits and outcomes the system change shall bring. Various aspects need to be considered: About User: - Is the user new or advanced? - Is the user familiar with the business process and technical features of the system? About Feedback collection: - Are there enough areas to collect feedback through interactively and in background? - What happens to the collected feedback in improving the system? About Value creation: - Are the changes going to deliver significant or incremental value to business? - Is the user experience changing for better or worse? About System: - Is the change transformational or incremental? - Is there a technical debt?

The transformation is intended for the system's users, not just someone's needs. If you approach your community seeking feedback, establish champions, and involve key representatives, you'll not only gather most of the requirements, address assumptions, and understand dependencies, but you'll also gain allies and supporters to guide the community through this transformation. Feedback is of utmost importance.

Getting the first-hand perspective from the user is key. Surveys are useful, but taking the time to speak with the user manufacturing, and assembling the product is best. I have always taken the attitude that I need to get out on the floor to speak with the machinists and encourage their feedback. I would make it my objective to be engaged in speaking with the assembly technicians, but most importantly be hands-on to understand and identify any areas of concern or improvement. As an engineer, I’m not privileged or too important to get dirty and turn wrenches. That’s how I best learn and keep engaged with my projects to ensure they are successful.

Seeking feedback is crucial, and providing the right tools for users to share their input requires careful planning and considering available collaborative and communication tools. Understanding which medium is most suitable, whether it's meetings, surveys, chats, forms, interviews, or others, is extremely important. To begin, establish a communication strategy and agree on rules of engagement during the initial stages of negotiation.

Digital adoption platforms (DAPs) can be instrumental in encouraging user communication – with in-app surveys and feedback forms, they make it easy for users to share their insights without disrupting their workflow. Digital adoption platforms are more than just training tools - they're channels for continuous communication and improvement. And, in terms of building trust, DAPs allow for rapid changes based on user feedback. By showing users that their suggestions are implemented, we build trust and encourage further participation.

I typically recommend organizing informal gatherings where people can socialize and get to know each other. During these sessions, you can provide highlights of what's to come. Then, ensure that your communication, milestones, targets, and goals are regularly shared with your community. Transparency is key, and it's essential to highlight potential challenges in the future. Engagement doesn't solely result from implementing digital solutions, human connections and compelling stories are more powerful than anything else.

An open and good rapport with the user to building trust is inherently important. The ability for the user to openly make suggestions for improvement and efficiency are key to collaborating on providing a quality product. Engaging the user to provide their perspective is important to understand where a process and/or design could improve. As the engineer creating the design, I try to engage and rely on the user’s first-hand knowledge and expertise to see things from an “outside-in” perspective to learn and help make me better.

“Acts, not words” was the motto that I learned and live by from my time in the military. Why go through the effort and spend the time collecting feedback and data to not do anything g with it? Feedback and data should definitely be analyzed, categorized and organized to understand and identify where the deficiencies occur. This is the opportunity to verify and validate the plan and determine a resolution, which may require multiple attempts to fine tune. It would be worse to identify the presence of an issue or deficiencies, and not act to find a solution to the identified concerns. It could prove to be a costly decision procrastinate and not follow through.

There is always room for improvement, opportunities to learn, and the need to adapt and overcome. Confronting challenges, new opportunities and the risks involved should not be seen negatively, but rather as a challenge to be better and standout amongst the rest.

The first thing to do is to identify stakeholders and system users. Bringing everyone together to define a plan collaboratively is likely the most challenging approach, but it's the one that, in the long term, will yield tremendous results and positively impact your culture in many ways.