My colleague is getting more and more frustrated with his immovable client. They simply don’t want to, or are incapable of, articulating their requirements.
He and I discussed the issue, and came up with a novel approach.
The client loves their existing system, so why not start there? Rather than ask the client what they want, you can reverse engineer their existing system and build the design from the results.
For example, if they currently track locations with an alphanumeric location code, then the Salesforce design mentions a field called “Location Code” on the Account object (or perhaps the Location object, TBD later).
And if people have 13 different commonly used titles in their job description, then those become the picklist values for a new field. And so on.
Once the design is done, you can re-build things in Salesforce. When demoing this to the client, it should spark a reaction, as they will see data that is familiar. They should also be in a better position to tell you what parts of the design need improvement.
Keep in mind the disadvantage of this approach is you’re simply rebuilding their existing system. You’re not adding anything new.
The takeaway
When the client is resistant, consider reviewing their current systems. Let their data do the talking.