Review

We don’t work in a vacuum, we work with people. Much of this advice is transferable to product teams and product managers communicating product decisions.

Many of the things they author writes about I’ve learned during my studies – whenever you are not sure what is going on, try to understand the both extremes and you’ll get a better feeling of where you are at the moment.

The best designers I’ve worked with were masters at presenting their work to stakeholders. Although they did something that the book didn’t mention:

Stretching exploration to the limit

• They explore the extremes. Designs which would never get signed off, but take an idea to the maximum. They show them to the stakeholder, who’s naturally concerned. But they slowly dial them back, and propose something more palatable.
• Stakeholders leave relieved and confident that the designers have explored a broad range of solutions

I thoroughly recommend this book!

Key Takeaways

The 20% that gave me 80% of the value.

Introduction

• Good designers can articulate how their solution solves the problem in a way that’s compelling, fosters agreement, and gets the support needed to move forward
• There are always people with the authority to dictate solutions who know little or nothing about design
• Showing stakeholders designs can result in disagreements, design-by-committee, group think or HIPPO mandates. Different opinions and a barrage of feedback can make it hard to defend our own choices.
• Communication is the job, we have to explain why we did what we did
• It’s unrealistic to believe the best ideas are the ones that will get picked
• Present your work in a way that it appeals to stakeholders’ needs and expectations
• What Makes Design Good:
  1. It solves a problem
  2. It’s easy for users
  3. It’s supported by everyone
• To be successful at communicating designs, answer these three questions
  • What problem does it solve?
  • How does it affect the user?
  • Why is it better than the alternative?
• Make your thought process into something real, shareable, and visible, to uncover the words that will help you to explain yourself to other people in a way that makes sense.
• Create an environment where everyone understands what you’re doing, believes in your expertise and supports your choices
• We’re looking for an agreement to move forward
• You can win trust over time by being intentional and demonstrating your thought process
• You need to express your designs to other people in a way that makes sense to them

Relationships/Stakeholders

• Good quality relationships with your stakeholders are key. Improve them to earn trust and establish rapport
• Look at things from their perspective – and be driven to action by it – as you feel their pain
• Shift from defending your work to solidarity
• Ask good questions → get them to talk to you about what’s important to them
• Be direct and uncover their views… What’s your opinion on this project?
• Stakeholders are individuals, but they often represent the concerns of their position. You can use JTBD, personas or even stakeholder stories to bring these to life

Before the meeting

• Reduce cognitive load in your meeting
• Set the context
• Remove anything that will be a distraction (placeholder copy and content)
• Write down objections you expect from stakeholders → write down your response → practice saying it
• Create and present alternatives → have a well-articulated explanation for our choices
• Create a support network → Get other people in the room who support your decision
• Do a dress rehearsal → Do everything you can to make the meeting go as expected

During the meeting

• Carefully listen → understand your stakeholder before responding
• Let your stakeholders talk:
  • They will feel valued
  • They will feel understood
  • Their concerns will become more clear
• Work to uncover the real problem → If they propose an alternative, what problem are they trying to solve? What’s between the lines? What are they not saying?
• Match their vocabulary
• Write things down / take notes, ask questions, nod, make eye contact
• Rephrase their response in a form of a question that forces them to talk about it in a way that’s more helpful
  • Convert ‘likes’ to ‘work’ → liking the solution isn’t important, the solution working is important

Mindset

• There is always someone else who can overrule us
• You can’t force agreement → you have to learn to influence people
• Get out of your bubble → sit with your stakeholder → Get on the same team
• Believe in your approach – but recognize it’s not the only way
• Always lead with a YES (the yes reflex)
• Establish a positive persona
• Don’t talk about what you like or don’t like. Focus on what works and what doesn’t work.
• Take what your stakeholders give you → deliver it back better than it was before
• Response pattern: Thank, Repeat, Prepare

• Our responses will go back to our key questions:
  • What problem does it solve?
  • How does it affect the user?
  • Why is it better than the alternative?

• Decide which of these methods will create the best case for your designs and help you get agreement.
  1. Show a comparison
  2. Propose an alternative
  3. Give them a choice
  4. Ask others to weigh in
  5. Postpone the decision

• The IDEAL Response:
  • Identify the problem → state the problem your design addresses
  • Describe your solution → connect your design to the problem, show how it addresses it
  • Empathize with the user → State how your solution solves the problem for a specific user
  • Appeal to the business → Describe how your decisions are meant to affect goals, metrics, or key performance indicators (KPIs).
  • Lock in agreement→ Ask for agreement. Do you agree?” Put them in a position of needing to respond to you, and keep the project moving forward.
• Make it clear what you believe the right choice is
• Highlight the negative effect of disagreement or the positive benefits of agreeing
  • E.g. Do you agree that we should improve conversion by removing these fields?

After Meeting

• Follow up quickly with your notes → Apply filters and remove the fluff
• Make and communicate decisions when there is ambiguity

If you don’t succeed

• A bad idea doesn’t have to turn out poorly and ruin everything.
• Do the difficult work to make it better → don’t miss a huge opportunity to improve the design in a way you didn’t imagine. Making great stuff with constraints, is what design is all about
• See stakeholder requests as an opportunity for change or a challenge to solve
• The Bank Account of Trust → Their willingness to trust you when it matters most is dependent on having a positive balance. Sometimes you have to relent and allow your stakeholders to make changes even when you’re opposed to them
• The outcome of the project is dependent on your ability to effectively manage these conversations and find the best solutions, given the constraints of working with real humans.