There's a special kind of magic that happens at hackathons. A room buzzing with excitement, filled with folks from different backgrounds figuring things out together to make something awesome happen. At a hackathon, workplace silos and worries about stepping on toes vanish, and you end up with a lot more diversity. The more diverse the thinking and perspective, the higher the quality of the ideas we see in the result. So, why can't work feel the same way? More importantly, is that even possible? We're here to tell you yes because we've seen it happen with one of our teams.
Break yourself out of work "transactions"
During a chat with our friends at TELUS International (TI), we talked about revamping their website's blog and resources section. As we reviewed concepts together, we realized we needed to learn more about how the existing blog was working out for them. Asking them about their editing experience out of curiosity led to some interesting insights, but not the ones we expected.
They told us that when the marketing teams edited content (using Contentful), things got more complicated and increased their workload. On top of that, their content needs tend to grow, making managing their content more complex. This discussion made us realize we needed to think about the whole product experience, not just how it looks to visitors but also how it feels for the people editing it. Armed with this new insight, we wanted to find better ways to make editing less of a headache for the TI team.
Our thoughts
We know it's hard to think outside the project box sometimes because you don't want to disrupt the status quo of an engagement with your client. We're trying to push ourselves to set these reminders when we engage with clients:
Be curious and ask questions to understand their perspective, which includes pains, gains, etc.
Understand that others may not know what's possible or even what to ask for from the get-go.
Share your thoughts out loud! Even if your ideas are outside the original project brief/ask, you should say something when you see different ways to help your clients in the long run.
Make it an experiment
The TI team was excited about our idea to make the editing process easier for them, but they were worried that it would take away from our deliverables. We suggested that we come back with a proof of concept (POC) in a week without disturbing our current timeline for this project. After that conversation, we started building on that thought of improving the editing experience and in true hackathon style, we decided to treat this as an experiment. We didn't have all the answers, but we were willing to give it a shot. We carved out some time to play around with ideas parallel to our project tasks.
Our thoughts
We know that making things an experiment can be tricky because your clients still want to make sure it takes little time away from the deliverables they asked for. We found three S's to keep in mind when you try this method:
Safe - don't disturb the status quo. You're not forgetting about what your client is initially asking you for.
Small - the scope has to be a thin slice. Pick a sample size for your idea.
Simple - it doesn't have to be perfect to share it. It just needs to illustrate the solution effectively.
Go with that flow
After a week, we brought some POCs, a simple UI, and a functioning screen to show the TI team. The initial reaction was surprising because the TI team didn't know that the Contentful editor could even be customized. After getting them to user test our prototype, one of their content editors told us that this new editor would make their life easier and make work more fun for them to do. The TI team was now eager to jump in and start using their customized editor, and we were excited to find out what else we could do for them. After getting their initial feedback, we iterated and improved the editor. We brought everyone in - designers, devs, QA, and the TI marketing team to test it - so that we could find other ways to enhance this product with the power of diverse thinking with different perspectives in the conversation. This experiment helped us focus on how we could engage with our clients differently to help them get their wins outside of delivering the original ask.
So, what happened?
Starting from a small demo we put together, we built a Custom Contentful Editor for our friends at TELUS International. The journey was filled with excitement as we explored the possibilities of customization with different perspectives along the ride. After presenting the demo, the TI team was eager to dive right in. The custom editor wasn't just a time-saver; it streamlined their workflow and lightened their workload, making content management a breeze even as their website content grows.
What did we think?
At first, we thought we needed to play within the boxes inside Contentful. Once we broke out of that thinking and realized that we didn't have to be constrained by Contentful, it opened another level of excitement for us. Everyone was able to pitch their ideas and bring their perspective, and it all sparked waves of creativity for this cool tool we built.
What is the Custom Contentful Editor?
Learn more about what we built and how it works from Joe and Ahmad's presentation at the TELUS CIO Tech Conference last year!
These work "transactions" and meetings are awesome for getting things done, but they can also lead to some pretty neat stuff for clients. Through this project, we learned that there's always room for improvement. When we stepped outside the usual routine, we found space to think bigger and to bring our clients a better experience with their work. Along the way, we were excited about working on the editor in parallel with our project and made space to bring that hackathon magic to our everyday work. So, the next time you work with a client, don't be afraid to speak up and think differently. You can always bring that hackathon magic with you in your day-to-day work. You'll be amazed at what you can achieve when you dare to think outside the (project) box.
