Discovery with a C.A.U.S.E.

You are getting ready to implement Salesforce with a new client. Their sales, marketing, and customer service departments have different information systems, each with their own version of customer data. Each department needs data from the other departments' systems and can only get it with expensive integration. Their frustration has reached the boiling point, requiring the CEO to step in and break up conflicts over data access. She has played a referee long enough and mandated that all three departments have a single source of truth for customer data.

You schedule a virtual discovery workshop with each department to learn about their needs. You plan to elicit as many needs as possible with an approach that double checks discovery to ensure its accuracy. Each discovery session starts with complaints about accessing data from the other departments' systems, as you anticipated. The participants move onto concerns about Salesforce - how will they get the information they need from other departments while protecting their sensitive customer information from prying eyes? You feel their tension rise as they express their concerns.

You capture all of their data access needs. You move on to their day-to-day processes, capturing every business need they share, even those not required for the initial implementation. You maintain your curiosity, asking them, "what else?" until they have nothing left to share. The tension on the call settles down.

You acknowledge each captured need with the person(s) who shared it, confirming what they said. This provides an opportunity to clarify what they need, and show them that you got it. The participants lean back in their seats as they realize you are listening. The tension on the call dissipates as the team sees you accurately capturing their data sharing needs and access control requirements. You remind the team that you are only confirming their needs, not committing to implement a solution. They chuckle and agree.

Once you have captured and acknowledged the client's needs, you review them after the workshop to understand them. You note any questions or doubts about a need and follow up with the client for answers. You create a document outlining each department's needs, adding one section for common needs and another for conflicting needs. You create diagrams showing the flow of each process the clients outlined, supported with more detailed diagrams of complex processes. You make a list of all your assumptions about their needs.

After you complete the documentation, you schedule a series of shorter sessions to show your understanding of each department's needs. You review the department's needs, along with the common needs. You go through the process flow diagrams to make sure they clearly cover each process. You check each assumption you made with the department members. They point out where they have resolved some data access conflicts. You note those and all variances between your understanding and the client's feedback. You capture and acknowledge new needs that emerge from this process.

When you complete the follow-up sessions, you edit your documents with changes. You make sure you understand any needs captured in the follow-up sessions. You show these changes in a final summit meeting that includes the client CEO and the departmental managers. They are impressed with how clearly and completely you captured their needs. The CEO likes how you show the data access conflicts between departments, commenting that you made her job a lot easier. She says she’s excited to work with you in the future. You share how much you respect and appreciate her leadership.

The success of the client's Salesforce implementation hinges on capturing their business needs thoroughly and clearly. You acknowledge the needs as you capture them as the first level of confirmation that you have their needs. You review all that you've captured to develop understanding and insight into what the client needs from Salesforce. You create documents reflecting what you've learned and use them to show your understanding as a second level of confirmation. You edit the documents based on feedback from the client that varies from your initial understanding. You're discovering customer needs with C.A.U.S.E.: Capture, Acknowledge, Understand, Show, Edit.

C.A.U.S.E. confirms accurate discovery of customer needs.