What’s the difference between implementation and adoption? Or better yet, what’s the difference between a digital product that is beloved rather than just tolerated? Emotional engagement. The best products in our lives connect with us. We applaud their convenience, marvel at their usefulness, celebrate their ingenuity and we tell our friends about them.

But how do we connect with an end user when, historically, human emotions and IT are two subjects that have rarely shared the same space? The more technical skills become commoditized, the more limiting and counterproductive this disparity becomes. In today’s reality, emotional intelligence — the ability to identify and manage your own emotions and the emotions of others — is the key to engaging your audience and is an increasingly necessary quality for IT professionals. When IT teams focus on enhancing emotional intelligence, they can better design platforms and products that generate user loyalty and increase adoption.

Checking The Boxes But Missing The Mark

Today, technology can open the door to innovative experiences and enable new capabilities for customers and businesses alike. However, technology by itself cannot deliver on those promises. To create such moments requires not only technological know-how but also a sense of what it feels like to be the person who will ultimately use it. The most successful IT teams not only understand requirements but also the context and unspoken desires of their clients.

Unfortunately, the typical development process looks a bit like this: Step 1: The user outlines their needs. Step 2: IT implements those requirements. The hitch? In most cases, the IT team does not understand the activities that come before and after the requirements it’s received. It understands what the user needs but not the context that surrounds it.

When the product is finished, the IT team then delivers it to users and files the project away as complete. However, due to its limited view of the user’s needs for the product, the IT team is unable to paint a picture of the future and can’t tell the user exactly how to make use of the new product. Instead, the traditional development process leaves the burden of those activities squarely on the shoulders of the client.

Here’s an example: Imagine hearing an announcement about a new reporting tool. Your imagination immediately runs rampant with all the ways that this platform is going to make your life easier. Suddenly, a world of data is right at your fingertips, and the possibilities seem endless. But now you’re looking to pull a specific query? That’s when reality sets in and your dreams of productivity begin to plummet. What’s the implementation team’s answer? “All the reports that were requested are present on the platform.”

While this particular scenario may be slightly exaggerated, it still underscores the issue. Did the team technically deliver on the requirements? Yes. All of the data and reports that were requested are present. Is it useful? Can a new user look at it and intuitively understand how to find what they need? Not really, and this leaves the users to determine their own ways to use the product. A handful will bravely forge onward and became the office gurus of the product. But most, after trying a few times, will simply throw their hands up and forget about the tool. Whether the tool technically fulfills user requirements becomes a moot point because, without user adoption, its usefulness and potential remain untapped.