A huge problem for projects is the lack of a common language between the developers and the users.

When my colleague and I were preparing a presentation for an internal conference on this subject, he said something that has stuck with me. He said, “The goal of the project is to make the user successful.” I added to that: It’s not to write code or validate code. It’s not even to ship a product or make money (of course, this last one is especially true in a non-profit organization). At least, it shouldn’t be these things.

The goal of a project is to make the user successful at what he wants to accomplish.

Go ahead, read that previous sentence a few times. It’s one that would do well to sink in.

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