Actionable insight overload

Don’t lose your shit.

Photo by Startaê Team on Unsplash

Sometimes the stars align just so and your to-do list explodes with actionable insights that, pursued, improves your design, makes your product easier to use, adds credibility to your cause, or grows your userbase. You find that except for substituting excitement for shame your anxiety around the to-do list isn’t too different than if it were a list of bugs.

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A to-do list is a to-do list. You prioritize a positive one no differently.

1. Will not pursuing this insight kill you, your colleagues, or leave either of you destitute and in shambles? Probably not. Don’t lose your shit.
2. Will popping this insight from the to-do list entirely deprive the world of good? Making a form easier to use to join a mailing list is morally different from making a form easier to use to apply for government benefits. Both make a user’s life a modicum easier, but one is a niceness — the other a kindness.
3. Does anyone really care if a thing gets done? You’d be surprised how many don’t — even your users.
4. Is the pursuit of an insight out of your immediate control?

Pursue only things-to-do that are in your control, keep your business afloat, do good, and has a good Kano model score (meaning that users actually care), and you’ll find your list of actionable insights dramatically paired.

Craft virtuously.

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Remember that design is not art, but a practice.

Michael Schofield