Rationale
The SWAN software platform is at the center of the chosen mission for the SWAN organization. The membership survey and interviews conducted as part of the assessment and analysis revealed member dissatisfaction exists at a meaningful enough level.
Satisfactory solutions depend on proper diagnosis: “What are the contributors for member dissatisfaction?”
There are three possible contributors to the problem:
- SWAN staff (i.e. should provide more training, adequate documentation, etc.)
- SWAN member libraries (i.e. have different opinions on how software should work, should embrace common practices, need a role in developing solutions, etc.)
- Vendors (i.e. need to invest more resources in product software development, development cycles are prone to delays, etc.)
SWAN is missing a shared diagnosis. The below actions will lead to a clearer understanding of where SWAN’s member dissatisfaction stems from and will allow us to develop adequate solutions to counter it.
Markers
- A prioritized list of SWAN software platform related problems has been developed with input from member libraries and patrons (see Objective 4).
- SWAN Executive Director and the board systematically work through the list and develop initial diagnostic hypotheses that considers the role of all three potential contributors (staff, member libraries, vendors).
- Where there is disagreement or uncertainty, SWAN Executive Director proposes short term “triangulation” experiments to obtain more accurate data. Each experiment should intentionally modify one of the three potential contributors to discern what moves the meter on which problems.
- The experiments are agreed to by the board. Results are tracked and reported.
- At the end of this process, the Board and Executive Director agree on properly nuanced diagnoses of the major problems of the ILS and connected platforms.
- These findings are shared with the broader membership.
Guiding Principles
At this stage, the primary goals are gaining insight and developing a culture of collective ownership of problems.
Research and performance enhancements SWAN completed within Objective 1 should not lose sight of finding ways to improve the patron experience as part of objective 4.
