Part two. The Expectation
Four lines, plus one
A needs assessment that fits on one page and is read, rather than one that is thorough and is not.
Read the transcript
A needs assessment is only useful if the people delivering the work read it. Long ones are not read. Four lines are. What they are trying to achieve, in their words, in one sentence. What they will count as evidence it worked, specific enough that you could be shown to have failed. What they have already tried and why it did not work, which is where the real constraints are and is the line most often skipped. And who has to be convinced besides the person in front of you, because almost every stalled account has an unnamed person in it. Then the line that earns the document its place: what would have to be true for them to stop using this. Ask it directly, and ask again at ninety days.
A needs assessment is only useful if the people delivering the work read it. Long ones are not read. Four lines are.
What they are trying to achieve, in their words, in one sentence.
What they will consider evidence that it worked, stated specifically enough that you could be shown to have failed.
What they have already tried, and why it did not work, because this is where the real constraints are and it is the line most often skipped.
Who has to be convinced other than the person in front of you. Almost every stalled account has an unnamed person in it.
And then the plus one, which is the line that makes the document earn its place: what would have to be true for them to stop using this. Ask it directly. Customers answer it more readily than anyone expects, and the answer is the earliest churn signal you will ever get, obtained at the moment of maximum goodwill.
Revisit it at ninety days. Not to check the boxes, but because the answer to the plus one changes, and the change is the signal.
Two things worth doing, neither of which costs anything
Read the standard in full, free and in the open, before you pay anything or give anyone an address.