You're working on a customer experience project. What's the best way to stay focused?

1 Define your scope

One of the first steps to stay focused on your CX project is to define your scope clearly and realistically. Scope refers to the boundaries and deliverables of your project, such as what you will do, how you will do it, who will be involved, and when you will finish. Having a clear scope helps you avoid scope creep, which is when your project expands beyond its original plan and becomes more complex, costly, or time-consuming. To define your scope, you need to communicate with your customers, stakeholders, and team members, and agree on the objectives, requirements, and expectations of your project.

2 Prioritize your tasks

Another step to stay focused on your CX project is to prioritize your tasks according to their importance and urgency. Prioritizing your tasks helps you manage your time and resources more effectively, and avoid wasting them on low-value or low-impact activities. To prioritize your tasks, you can use a simple matrix that divides them into four categories: urgent and important, important but not urgent, urgent but not important, and neither urgent nor important. Then, you can focus on the tasks that are urgent and important first, followed by the ones that are important but not urgent. You can delegate or postpone the tasks that are urgent but not important, and eliminate or minimize the ones that are neither urgent nor important.

3 Track your progress

A third step to stay focused on your CX project is to track your progress regularly and objectively. Tracking your progress helps you measure your performance, identify your achievements and challenges, and adjust your plan and actions accordingly. To track your progress, you need to set specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound (SMART) goals and indicators for your project, and monitor them using tools such as dashboards, charts, or reports. You also need to review your progress with your customers, stakeholders, and team members, and solicit their feedback and suggestions.

5 Seek support

A fifth step to stay focused on your CX project is to seek support from others when you need it. Support can come from different sources, such as your customers, stakeholders, team members, mentors, peers, or friends. Support can help you overcome challenges, solve problems, learn new skills, or gain new perspectives. To seek support, you need to be open and honest about your needs and expectations, and reach out to the people who can help you. You also need to be respectful and appreciative of their time and expertise, and reciprocate their support when possible.

6 Stay motivated

A sixth and final step to stay focused on your CX project is to stay motivated and positive throughout the process. Motivation is what drives you to start, continue, and finish your project, despite the difficulties or setbacks you may encounter. To stay motivated, you need to remind yourself of the purpose and value of your project, and how it will benefit your customers, stakeholders, and yourself. You also need to celebrate your milestones and achievements, and learn from your mistakes and failures.

7 Here’s what else to consider

This is a space to share examples, stories, or insights that don’t fit into any of the previous sections. What else would you like to add?