We recently hit on the overarching term of “User Alliance” which I like so much I kind of can’t believe it doesn’t already exist in this context.

One thing I like about User Alliance is that it has that ring of a term that you should already kinda know. It sounds like a thing. Let’s try just slipping it right into the conversation and see if anyone notices. Ask someone if their team has a Director of User Alliance and let us know how they respond.

What do we mean by User Alliance?

To us, "User Alliance" is all of the many things that result from the underlying belief that we as technology people are on the same team as the people whose work we are helping support and superpower. It says to them: we’re all in this together, working towards the same goal. How can I help you get where you’re trying to go?

It covers the complete range of altitudes, from 50,000 foot strategic decision-making to the trenches of procedural details. And it is based in the knowledge that this approach is not just helpful, but that it will produce great dividends for the organization overall.

User Alliance might encompass several existing things that already have well-recognized terms, such as user research, training and support, business analysis, and requirements intake. Those things all sound a bit clinical, but they’re fundamentally about understanding what it’s all about, how the rubber actually hits the road, how everything is interconnected with everything else.

But User Alliance is bigger and more aspirational than those component parts. It’s an entire philosophical orientation. And it’s an often undervalued category of work.

A User Alliance approach flips the balance from reactive to proactive.

It means getting out from behind a ticketing queue and going out there to talk to people, to initiate conversation, to build understanding, to build and earn trust, and to gather insights from more people with hands on different parts of the machine.

It might inspire you to block off time where you can’t complete your own work “tasks”, but instead are out there in the field, helping out with people’s jobs who you are trying to support, as a way to really learn and understand their day to day nuances.

Putting a priority on User Alliance makes it obvious that great support and training are critical, to the point where the shape of them change entirely. You might realize that you need more than just the standard couple trainings for new employees, and that you also want to offer re-training and easy-to-access, on-the-spot support for existing employees, or for people changing roles, or for anyone who needs it, happily, with no questions asked.

“User allies” would be eager to identify every point of friction and recognize the real value of smoothing them all out. You would understand that helping people use the system well as designed is just as valuable as adding new features, if not more so. And that the insights gained from that level of support and general interest in your colleagues’ experiences will make the entire product stronger.

Interacting with a team focused on User Alliance would always feel like working with... well... your allies. It would never feel like the stereotype of irritated tech support professionals. A User Alliance team would always feel like your teammates, in every sense.

In fact, the hardest thing about truly adopting a User Alliance mindset may be that it takes precious time. It’s true, building relationships and building trust does take time, and we all have so much work to do.

But nothing helps get to a more nuanced understanding of how things work than diving into the muck of someone else’s complexity. And what is the alternative? Averting your eyes and hoping everything is going well?

You must make time, especially if you work in technology, to talk to people. To explore how they’re working, what they like, and what frustrates them. This can either turn up amazing new opportunities or just lead to insights as simple as, “this person needs some more training!”

But when we meet people eye to eye, treat each other as peers, build trust and understanding, and uncover and support the countless opportunities available to make everyone’s work a little bit better every day, that’s when we have truly changed the entire game. That’s what User Alliance is all about.

Come join our inaugural “Unicorn Party” — a casual peer support and best practice sharing conversation for strategic, collaborative, ally-minded, technology unicorns on Friday Dec 10, 2021 at Noon eastern time. Register for the zoom link here. And you're wondering why unicorns, here's the post that explains it. Hope to see you there!