How to use a 5W1H method to have more productive conversations

You roam from one meeting room to another, sit on a tall office chair, lean forward, observe the group throwing thoughts and comments around. You try to put the ideas together in your mind, but the group jumps from one topic to another, and soon you lose focus. Feeling at sea, you adjust yourself to a more comfortable position. You start to doubt if you can bring anything valuable to the table and wonder why you are even invited. In a different room, you’re the one who’s trying hard to drive the conversation to a particular outcome, now the group seems lost, just like you did in the other meeting.

Designers thrive on effective communication with product managers, engineers and users, however, productive communication does not come naturally and with ease. Like any product, a conversation needs to be designed intentionally, as well.

Let’s take a look at how to use this very common 5W1H (Who, What, When, Where, Why, and How) method to help designers prepare intentional conversations that lead to productivity and effective communications.

Why

Understand your goal.

It is an impulsive habit to schedule a bunch of meetings where people waste time having clueless random discussions, that end nowhere when topics are complex, and too many people are involved. Before wasting time, pause for a minute, think about what you are trying to achieve here.

· Why is this conversation necessary?

· What problems are you trying to solve?

· What is the information or feedback you want to collect?

· What’s the impact of this conversation?

· Can this conversation lead to any important decisions?

First of all, figure out if you need a conversation to find the answer you need. Having this thought shouldn’t make anyone feel shy about asking for help if needed. Always try to leverage other people’s knowledge and brain power, but also be aware that independent thought should be put in before asking. When you decide that you need input from others, be respectful of their time, be crystal clear about what you want to get out of the conversation and make sure you have it included in your conversation/meeting invitation.

Include a short note of the goal in the meeting invitation (having an agenda is even better), no matter what form of communications, make sure attendees are aware that there is a goal to having the meeting. On the other hand, don’t feel uncomfortable asking for information when you get an invitation to a meeting with just a confusing subject line. It is for the good of everyone’s time to understand why you are meeting. Everyone wants the conversation to be productive and successful.

Only when the goal is clear, people can prepare which knowledge, headspace and thoughts they need to bring to the conversation. Plus, they may even bring the right person that you missed out on inviting.

Who

Identify the right person to talk to.

Picking the right person to speak to differs as communication goals and subjects vary. For information collection, you need to find the person who not only has the information about the specific detail area that you are looking for but who also knows the overall plan and the long-term vision. The right person to start with is someone who can paint the big picture before diving into nuances. This person usually has a lot of knowledge and experience. He or she is not necessarily the direct person in charge of a project, but their thoughts and opinions have a significant impact on the product. Reach out to them, exchange discussions and make sure to bring back the valuable information later to the entire team so that you can bridge the gaps.

Designers need to present and sell their ideas. For this purpose, there is no need to start the discussion with all the stakeholders. Start with a smaller group. Besides getting buy-in from the direct PM, find the influencer who has a voice that everyone trusts. They are usually active and deeply involved and can make decisions. Get their feedback and support before starting a meeting invitation to a broader audience.

Another thing to note is that it can be easy to involve key figures too late. Ask yourself, or even consult the team with the following questions. Doing so can help you include the right person at the right time.

• Is there anyone else that should know about this?
• Who else should we get buy-in from?
• Who else may have feedback or thoughts?
• Who may be affected by the decision we make here?

When and Where

Understand the situation and then initiate a conversation.

Whenever you realize that you need more information or you feel like you need some more brainpower to help you sort out your thoughts. Start to plan for your next productive conversation. Don’t just rush into a quick chat when it may not be a good time. Don’t try to sideway a talk in another conversation just because you thought about a brilliant idea. Keep a note and talk about it offline. It’s best to get your information straight before heading into something right away.

On the other side of the story, don’t drag things on too much. Sometimes designers want to feel in control, and they feel uncomfortable showing paper sketches, so they tend to over-prepare for a conversation. As long as you’re clear about the goal, and you involve only the right people, there is no need to waste time.

Check the availability of the attendees and make sure the critical person can join. Sometimes, skipping that person can be a waste of time for everyone. If you are arranging meetings with offshore members, I recommend finding a tool and a common time that works for all.

Conversations can happen in various places, and there are powerful tools that specialize in different formats. Depending on your goals, choose the right format. Use instant business communication tools for quick information. Emails are traceable and can be used for more formal conversations like a summary or reports. One-on-one personal chats can be used for detail reviews and feedback gathering. A group meeting is great for detailed discussions, design reviews, and feedback. Avoid reviewing drafts or options in large meetings. It’s more for getting buy-in or a final readout. A workshop can often be used to borrow many hands or many brains from the team, and it requires careful planning.

What

What defines a good conversation.

Now let’s design what a productive conversation can look like. There are a few basic features to consider.

Well Structured

The key to a successful conversation is in preparation. Have an agenda for your discussions. It can be a somewhat loose meeting or a casual chat, but be crystal clear about the objectives and topics to cover.

Use some time control techniques

Sometimes, things you don’t know interrupt and may disturb the plan and meeting runs over. If it is an important issue that needs to be resolved, you can adjust the time appropriately, but be mindful and respectful of other people’s time. Do time checks and remember to adjust the expectations.

Speak the group’s language

When talking to customers or executives, do not use too many internal jargon words, try to talk about business cases and user jobs using words that the customers can relate to. When talking to engineers, make yourself comfortable with technical terms, feature names or control names.

Be prepared but don’t be afraid to ask questions

Do your homework, so you understand the context and background of the subject. Designers are not expected to be an expert of the subject matter so don’t be frightened to ask “silly” questions. Keep asking simple, silly questions like:

• Why is this a problem? And why that? Ask 3 whys — it will lead you to the real answer.
• How does this work?
• Why is it like this right now?
• Is this the only solution?
• Has the solution been validated?

…

These questions can work well to help the team re-evaluate the problem or concepts they are already comfortable with.

Use tools

When having online meetings, it can be hard to describe a complicated concept. There are a bunch of tools you can use to help add clarity — iPad sketch, Invision freehands, and meeting annotation features. For an in-person meeting, use whiteboards or other tools you can draw on. It helps!

Use a few minutes to wrap up the conversation before it ends

Use the last few minutes to summarize the decisions or action items from the meeting. Make deadlines and make sure everyone is aware of them by sharing notes after the meeting.

and more tips…

You can find more techniques that are especially useful for designer conversations from this article 9 Conversation Techniques For Designers.

How

Measure the success of the conversation.

Two parts will determine if it’s a fruitful conversation. Has the initial goal been reached? How smooth and effective is the meeting?

It’s a straightforward exercise to evaluation if the goals have been reached. Was the information collected? Was the message successfully delivered? Have I got the feedback I need to move forward? Were necessary decisions made?

Besides doing a check-in on your goals, also be mindful about how people are involved. Were people paying attention? Did the group lose focus at some point? How was the time control? Are the action items after the meeting clear? Do these items have deadlines and have someone been assigned to take action? Is there anything that can be done differently to make it more effective?

It is essential to have these reflection questions engraved in your mind so it becomes natural enough to find out what’s working and not working so we can work on honing in conversation skills.

After the conversation

People know that they need to follow up on the action items but forget that they could do one more thing to maintain a better relationship with meeting attendees.

Follow Up

Give attendees simple feedback on how the information they presented was consumed. For example, designers will often do internal usability testing with coworkers but forget to inform them on how their opinions drove change for the product. Make sure that participants know they’re being heard and listened to, and that their time isn’t taken for granted.

Give kudos or credit to people

If possible share kudos and compliments with the person that helped you, but it’s even better to broaden the audience by sharing with their managers. This helps people build visibility in the team/company and also work on your relationship skills by gaining trust.