Embody your insights as richly as possible - visually, experientially - so that a shared understanding of the opportunity space and a shared vocabulary is developed early on in the process. Richly visual briefs can then help lock those things down. I'm not a big persona guy, but the more richly they're visualized the better too. Video is a great tool for all this work.
The biggest challenge is typically getting adequate time and resources to invest in this upfront, but the value of aligning things early and often makes it evidently worth it every time. Try to measure that value somehow as you go so you have the data to support requests for time and resources in the future.
Embody your insights as richly as possible - visually, experientially - so that a shared understanding of the opportunity space and a shared vocabulary is developed early on in the process. Richly visual briefs can then help lock those things down. I'm not a big persona guy, but the more richly they're visualized the better too. Video is a great tool for all this work.
The biggest challenge is typically getting adequate time and resources to invest in this upfront, but the value of aligning things early and often makes it evidently worth it every time. Try to measure that value somehow as you go so you have the data to support requests for time and resources in the future.