Articulating Design Decisions

Product Information

Here is a quick description and cover image of book Articulating Design Decisions: Communicate with Stakeholders, Keep Your Sanity, and Deliver the Best User Experience written by Tom Greever which was published in 2015-8-25. Most of the time stakeholders take these kinds of statements at face value and trust you with the rest.

The point isn’t really the final outcome, though, as much as it is your ability to thoughtfully explain the reality and constraints within which you’re working. This gives them a chance to demonstrate their knowledge and, although people often deny it, they generally enjoy talking about themselves.Putting ‘Recent Projects’ at the top of the home screen will improve data quality because users will have easier access to keeping their data current. For many UX designers, discussing design solutions with stakeholders is a source of anxiety and frustration. Make sure that you build into other people and relationships enough that you already have these go-to people available.

Our stakeholders hire us to design an experience, admit that they lack any expertise in design, yet frequently express opinions that are contrary to our recommendations or even overrule our decisions. Not only did this present technical challenges with the implementation, but it also created a set of confusing interactions. Sometimes, these limitations are straightforward and there’s simply no way to accommodate their request. Data is very powerful—almost too powerful—and using it all the time can create an environment in which no one wants to suggest anything different.

It is much more difficult for an executive who disagrees with your solution to insist you change it when the other experts in the room agree with you.