Alignment, Alignment, Alignment

This week has been focused on aligning with our clients and defining the scope of our project. Achieving alignment is more time-consuming than I initially realized. Although we discussed alignment and clarity in class, I naively assumed that this would not be much of an issue with our clients because they seem very reasonable. I’m now coming to understand that you don’t have to have an “unreasonable” client to struggle with alignment. When two separate groups work together, aligning vision and expectations is always going to be hard work.

At this point, I’m a bit nervous that we aren’t further along in our capstone project. My group members and I still aren’t sure what exactly we will be delivering, but I think we have a good start. We have familiarized ourselves with the product/category in question, we have gotten to know our clients and we have practiced applying SIT together. It would be nice to be able to clearly see how the rest of the semester will go. However, I think that’s where the ambiguity and uncertainty of marketing come in. We are receiving a crash course in the challenges of the field.

Even with all of the alignment issues, I still feel confident in my group’s ability to produce something of value at the end of all this. We have been working well together, accommodating each other’s schedules and communicating regularly. I know coming into capstone, I had worries about team dynamics. It’s just such a big, important project that it’s hard not to be nervous about the unknown variable of group members. For me, it’s a great learning experience because I didn’t know either of my teammates before starting. I am building a relationship with the client at the same time I’m building a relationship with my group.

For next week, I hope we can break through some of the ambiguity so we can get back on track. I am anxious to start making a solid plan for our primary research and producing more tangible progress.