What Makes You a Successful UX Designer When Working on Blackbox Projects?
Have you ever been involved in projects which start with ad-hoc requirements from the stakeholders who try to represent themselves as the real user or claim to have a very good understanding of the end users and the problem they are trying to solve for the market? I am sure every designer must have faced this at least once in their work life.
It is either the Product Managers, Engineering Leads, Sales Engineers, Customer Success Leaders, and/or intermediary stakeholders (someone who is in-between the real customer and you & may be working directly with your core team) that are fortunately or unfortunately leading these kinds of projects. I will refer to them as “Know-it-All’s” in this article.
The grounds I am trying to cover here are: what do YOU as a designer do when you are pulled into these kinds of projects? You might think: what a shit start on a Monday morning this is, right?? Well, I will try my best to ease your Monday blues. Now, get some coffee and take a deep breath, because the shit hasn’t hit the fan yet…
Below are a few things I am sharing with you all which has worked for me in the past:
1. Go with the Flow — Don’t Resist!
If you get a feeling that the entire team is onboard, regardless whether or not you agree with the path the team is taking, you MAY NOT want to rock the boat early on (this ultimately depends on the type/size/culture of the company and team).
What I usually do is sit back and play along, making a mental note that I want to be appearing eager and happy to be a part of the team.
In this process of sitting back and observing, I am trying to understand the team dynamics and work to identify who the stakeholders are. What problem are we trying to solve? What are the use cases they are bringing to the table?
Have they done any kind of user research? Where did this project originate?
In my experience, reacting early on in the process may hinder your image as a designer, making the process of trust building within the team more challenging.
2. Be a Team Supporter — Share Responsibility
How do you bring UX visibility to the project? I usually try to bond with the project’s “Know-it-All” (I emphasize more about this in my next step). I work with them to conduct a discovery workshop. My approach here is to help the “Know-it-All” share some of their responsibility while making them feel they are the owner. I make sure to go into the discovery workshop with a neutral mindset. I post the agenda in advance so that people come prepared to the meeting. It is easy to now lead or have the “Know-it-All” lead through the necessary conversations. You would be surprised how many stakeholders think they have understood the goal of the project, when in fact, they don’t fully understand it. These kinds of workshops bring a lot of clarity to everyone. Yes, the meetings can get passionate around what technology can be offered or what architecture would be right, and no one is yet talking about the actual user (which is ok at this stage). Be proud that you are initiating these kinds of discussions within the team that adds to the trust factor I talk about this again later in this article. You can gently mention to the team that the meeting is time-bound and that they can take these less-relevant discussions offline so that everyone can keep the agenda in mind. At the end of the workshop all the team members should be aligned to:
> Who all is involved and what are their roles?
> What is the end goal of the project?
> Would there be an MVP? If Yes, what is going into the MVP?
> What is the deadline?
> What are the show stoppers?
> Assigning ownership to those show stoppers.
> Is the project following Agile principles?
You may or may not get time to discuss your UX agenda, however, this meeting is where you are enabling the team to start working cohesively. I would definitely suggest sending MOMs (Minutes of the Meeting) to each of the team members after the discovery workshop. If the workshop does not end the way you intended it to, it may be because you ran out of time. I would recommend having a 2nd round follow-up to the workshop to ensure that all of the team is on the same page.
In my experience, if you need to take on the leadership role as a designer and be a key player in activities like this (ie: connecting the team members) within the project, people will start looking at you as a leader, which makes pushing forward your UX agenda easier down the line.
3. Getting UX Visibility — Building Trust
Conducting a discovery workshop and building trust with stakeholders can go hand-in-hand. This is a great opportunity area for UX!! In my perspective, UX is not just only about expressing your passion for design but being strategic about it. Building trust with the stakeholders (who are not as exposed to UX and its processes) is key.
a) Identity the Key Stakeholders:
> What are their roles?
> Who are the primary and secondary influencers of this project?
These considerations will help you identify the executives you need on your side to ensure project success.
b) Conducting 1-on-1 Sessions Helps You Understand and Communicate:
> What is their vested interest in the project?
> What are their expectations and goals for the project?
> What direction do they see this project evolving into over the short & long terms?
> What are their concerns?
> What are their expectations from you as a designer?
> Explaining to them your role and your approach
This will help you understand who you are up against and who will be your supporters and what will be obstacles on this journey. You get to know their perspective and where they are coming from, which will enable you to position your designs so that you can address their goals and concerns. Try to have these sessions outside the work zone if possible (a coffee shop?). I have personally experienced that holding these sessions on neutral grounds really helps people to loosen up a little and be their authentic selves.
c) Frequent, Honest, and Clear Communication with Influencers:
> Share design ideas and get early feedback.
> Make influencers feel like they are a part of the design process.
Sharing your designs with the influencers ahead of time is important. This gives you an early (and important) buy-in, even if the rest of the team is not on the same page as you are. The influencers need to support you in this stage. The way I share my design ideas with the primary influencers is to build a story around their concerns, goals, and expectations.
d) Educating and Evangelizing Design as You Go:
As a designer, it is our duty to keep educating the team to why the design works and why it does not, while communicating the rationale behind the design. Definitely, use data points to educate people. In the past, I have used data from usability tests, research papers, published articles, and/or surveys to communicate these points.
In my experience, this approach has helped me 90% of the time to push my UX agenda. Even if the project hasn’t gone the way I wanted it to go, this approach has helped me build positive relations nonetheless.
4. Team Work — We Fail or Succeed Together
I am sure most of you can resonate with this thought: ‘If something goes wrong, it is always the UX’s fault.’ To avoid this mentality and these kinds of situations, I always work with the team in making decisions together. Few examples:
> Design Workshops: I work together with the team to understand what “we” are solving and to brainstorm design ideas “together” so that we all are involved in the design process.
> Stakeholder Reviews: As I mentioned earlier, I work closely with my influencers to get them involved frequently in the design process so that they see the alignment of their goals and vision with my proposed design solutions.
> Internal Team Design Reviews: These design review meetings are held to visually represent the designs we sketched together on the whiteboard during the design workshop. This will bring out more questions and use cases, which you can brainstorm again with the team (if required).
> Research and Usability Testing: When I am conducting research one of the ways to involve the team members take notes on your behalf while I conduct the research, usability tests. This way, they can voice the customers feedback along with me. Additionally, this approach helps you to sell your design and the design process overall.
In my experience, whether you are working on a project where UX plays a vital role or not, the design is never done in isolation. Working closely with the team not only helps you to help them understand UX’s role but also helps you to bring design thinking into the group. I feel this is a bigger contribution than just making the project successful.
I hope these insights motivate you to look at the brighter side of the projects like these that you work on. In some cases, you may see a light at the end of the tunnel and in some, you may not, but at least you can evaluate yourself as a designer and know what kinds of projects and organizations you want to work for in the future. If some of you have had similar experiences, I would love to hear your perspective!! So Keep Calm and Design On!!!
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