The time period ‘Shared Understanding’ has probably change into irrevocably enshrined into the lexicon of software program and product improvement. As product designers, house owners, engineers, and supply groups, we will usually use the time period with reckless abandon, each day. Collectively, as product builders, we most probably all agree that we now want to create some kind of shared understanding amongst our groups earlier than we decide to any motion.
The thought is that in doing so, all of us agree as a group as to what the right ‘factor’ to construct is, and extra importantly, exactly why we’re spending our restricted time on this earth constructing it within the first place.
Constructing Shared understanding then, we hope, can present a mechanism via which summary and ambiguous issues change into understood mechanisms via which we will create worth for our clients. It’s meant to create a context inside which the answer that immediately addresses the specified consequence is found. Sadly, one thing that we all know all to nicely nevertheless, from our efforts to create it, is that it isn’t at all times a easy endeavour.
Creating shared understanding just isn’t as straightforward as spending an hour studying documentation, regurgitating our buyer requirement from a dusty post-it word (jotted earlier than the primary espresso of the day after an early morning cellphone name), apathetically punching acceptance standards right into a mission administration software, and drawing fanciful implementation diagrams on the wall to wall white house that we insist on being supplied with as product groups, however can’t be bothered to learn to use successfully.
This can be a miserable, course of oriented, ‘tick-box’ manifestation of product improvement, and it could possibly place an excessive amount of emphasis on constructing the incorrect product as a result of it may be laden with each dangerous assumptions and, worse nonetheless, a power lack of empathy. Moreover, it additionally locations the group and it’s processes earlier than the client and their want; that’s, the issue that we’re [hopefully] being paid to unravel. This course of is just a of a room full of people that have taken in turns to say, ‘sure, I perceive’. The truth is that for those who requested every to repeat their understanding, you’d be left with a collection of wildly completely different interpretations.
So, what the hell is Shared Understanding?
Jeff Patton’s great illustration of the issue (above) is well-known, however with out context or clarification, it doesn’t assist us perceive precisely what the shapes characterize. Are they options, backlog objects, design artefacts, outcomes; all of those? The issue is that the curious, outstanding and great approach during which as people we’re various and distinctive, makes defining shared understanding nearly inconceivable. Semantic uncertainty leads us, as people, down completely different paths. For instance, let me provide you with two definitions of ‘understanding’, in keeping with Google;
noun;
1. ‘the power to know one thing; comprehension’
and
2. ‘ sympathetic consciousness or tolerance’
So, there’s a definition which might have us optimise in direction of comprehension, and one other in direction of compassion. Optimising to 1 might drawback the opposite, and so as a result of our understanding of ‘understanding’ will invariably differ from particular person to particular person, shouldn’t we agree, as groups, which definition it’s that we’re working in direction of, if we select to work in direction of it in any respect?
Attempt asking your groups what they assume shared understanding actually means, and see how various the responses that you just obtain are. Your engineer could say one thing like ‘Understanding what we’re going to construct subsequent’, however your designer could say one thing extra like ‘Understanding how our consumer will work together with our product’; and these two responses clearly fixate on completely different facets of the merchandise improvement. The reply is, it’s each of these items, and extra.
