S1E4 Part 2 VIDEO Alignment in Higher Ed: A Tale of Two Projects with Adam Staffa

2025-03-07

In this episode of Corporate Underpants, I sit down with Adam to dig into the messy world of early-stage alignment in higher ed and non-tech-first organizations. Spoiler: It’s nothing like working at a tech company. Adam shares war stories from two major web strategy projects—one that went off the rails thanks to (surprise, surprise) misalignment, and another that actually worked (because alignment wasn’t an afterthought). We talk about why clarity on business goals is everything, how to get stakeholders on board early, and why adaptability is your secre...

In this episode of Corporate Underpants, I sit down with Adam to dig into the messy world of early-stage alignment in higher ed and non-tech-first organizations. Spoiler: It’s nothing like working at a tech company.

Adam shares war stories from two major web strategy projects—one that went off the rails thanks to (surprise, surprise) misalignment, and another that actually worked (because alignment wasn’t an afterthought). We talk about why clarity on business goals is everything, how to get stakeholders on board early, and why adaptability is your secret weapon when dealing with large, bureaucratic orgs.

If you’ve ever been stuck in a project with 40 stakeholders, changing priorities, and no clear direction—this one's for you.

Timestamps:

00:00 Corporate Underpants Live S1E4 – Managing 40 Stakeholders
01:45 Welcome!
04:27 Starting the next project with alignment
06:35 Asking for four days, getting four hours
07:53 What’s the actual goal here?
09:07 Overview of The Five Conversations
10:13 Adam’s zero-resistance feedback hack
12:47 Yes, you CAN meet hundreds of user needs
16:33 “Doing personas” whether they think they are or not
17:13 Why personas have a bad rap
18:56 Higher ed stakeholders actually talk to users—so their assumptions aren’t just “assumptions”
19:45 What about bias?
21:08 Proto personas, presumptive personas, alignment personas, archetypes… what’s the difference?
22:26 If your team hates personas, just don’t call them personas
23:03 HYPOTHESIS!
27:32 Everyone freaks out about stereotypes…
29:28 People have a hard time working together—this helps fix that
30:35 Four hours later, we had clear goals!
32:53 The result? Three months, under budget… and thank-you notes.
34:46 "Where’s the big red button?"
36:12 The Lifeboat
37:14 This work requires political capital
39:24 Start small!
41:11 The politics are always the hard part
51:47 Why agencies should bake alignment into their projects
52:08 Word choice makes a difference
53:37 Why goals never exist
58:22 Tech people need to adjust when working with nonprofits
59:43 Not everything can be fixed
01:05:07 Final thoughts