Here’s a fairly common occurrence that I’ve witnessed…

A company approaches me that has identified a need for a strong User Experience or Interaction Designer, either short or long term. We take some time to discuss the details of the project and come to terms on how we can outline and achieve agreed upon goals. We get set to take the next steps…then suddenly, silence.

Following up shortly after, I get something along the lines of “we’re going through a reorg and the initiative has been put on hold”, or “the scope was more than we thought and we’re reallocating funding to development.”

Here’s what is likely happening: After understanding the full spectrum of work that goes into crafting a masterful experience for their product offerings, companies will sometimes seize up. Then attempt to mitigate the revenue we just identified they’re losing by trying to squeeze more sales out of the channels they’re already familiar with…the path of least resistance. They realize that it is not going to be a quick fix, so they freeze and at first do nothing. Then do more of the same.

I don’t need to tell you that this only slows the hemorrhaging.

It is common for firms to want to return to what is business as usual for them, and firm up areas they already understand as their unique space. It’s comforting…safe. Unfortunately, this is also where innovation stops. This is where the grind of simply existing starts and you can only hope to be “at least just as good as your competitors.” It’s easy for a software firm to hire new contractors and task them with making their tool 15% faster. That’s a metric you can quickly report on and cite as improvement. A faster tool makes users happy right? Sure. But what if the feature they use most often is not readily found by 80% of them? Do they care how fast it is?

So how is this best handled?

It is critical to realize that the technology or intent behind your product alone will not power through any unfavorable user perception. Whatever assessment comes to light from being evaluated from a user experience point of view should include the acknowledgement of fear. Not just the fear of what it will take to correct the course, but what long term damage will be caused by ignoring it now.

Large scope doesn’t have to mean large action immediately. A fully detailed strategic plan to methodically address needs can be spread over a course of any span of time. If you have to make a choice between UX and business as usual, at least let a UX professional provide you with that plan to be ready to be executed against. A quality consultant (hey, how you doin?) will work in either a long or short term capacity as best suits you and reinforce your team at a foundation level until you’re ready to press start. In the interim, they will likely be on the lookout for more ways to improve your condition.

Don’t fall into the trap of indecision. Making a small move now can pay big returns later.