Hello
When you present novel ideas to coworkers do you ever worry about stirring up a hornet's nest? People who work in usability or design face this situation all the time, because when it comes to product user interfaces everyone seems to have a strong opinion on how things should work.
In this edition I am going to share some approaches I've learned over the years that lead to more effective design meetings. Hope you find these helpful.
Happy Friday!
Kay
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Even in open and collaborative work environments where employees are comfortable saying what they think, poorly structured UI design discussions can lead to tension and bad feelings.
These conversations make everyone uneasy, especially management, who justifiably fear such clashes affect their team’s ability to focus and produce.
Unfortunately, this dynamic leads to politically-driven design (aka design-by-committee) where the most powerful or vocal person wins out. This is seldom a good thing. However, the source of the problem is not the usability discussion itself, but the forum within which the discussion takes place.
Promote healthy and productive reviews of your work by “designing” your design meetings.
Here are a few strategies that help keep this type of meeting on track:
- Get support for your ideas from key people on the team. Make sure they know exactly what you will be presenting and that they are in agreement with it. Go over the meeting agenda with them, ask who should be there. Sometimes it is better to run several small review sessions vs. one large one, especially if you don't know the people well or if there are a lot of politics in the background that could derail the discussion.
- If you anticipate power struggles ask someone else run the meeting. The meeting leader doesn't need to be a high-level manager but they should have the interpersonal skills to guide the conversation so it stays open and productive. This simple adjustment distributes power so you can focus on presenting the design vs. controlling the group process.
- Ask a team mate to take notes on a flip chart or whiteboard that everyone can see. This shows respect for other people's ideas. Establish a separate “parking lot” page for jotting down comments that are important, but off topic. Keep the meeting less than an hour and focused on very specific aspects of the design.
- In your presentation show only what you need to show to get the feedback you need. Design your mockups to keep the discussion on track. Avoid extraneous detail. For example, if you're dealing with an early stage design represent your ideas with simple black and white line drawings not a fully flushed out interface with chrome, color, and all user choices. Separate the discussion around how the user interaction works from the esthetic discussion.
If all else fails just some really good doughnuts - Food is magic!
For more information on how to run more successful design review meetings here are some excellent books: “Designing the Conversation, Techniques for Successful Facilitation” Nunnally, Unger, and Willis and “How to Make Meetings Work” by Michael Doyle.
Please contact me if I can be of assistance. I help teams learn both usability and how to tweak their processes so they produce technology people enjoy using.
Good luck!!
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Artist: Max Aubrey
Kay Corry Aubrey - Usability Consultant
Usability Resources Inc , www.UsabilityResources.net
LinkedIn Profile, http://www.linkedin.com/in/kaycorryaubrey
Usability Resources Inc is SOWMBA/DBE certified
About Kay
Kay Corry Aubrey specializes in helping companies make their products more easily understandable to ordinary people through usability consulting, training, and team mentorship. Her expertise is in qualitative research, usability testing, and user interface design for traditional and mobile technology. Since 2002 she has worked with organizations as diverse as Abt Associates, AT&T Mobility, iRobot, The Broad Institute, Columbia University Libraries, Constant Contact, NIH, Moxie Software, and the Mayo Clinic. She teaches medical professionals about designing for usability within the Healthcare Informatics program at Northeastern University.
Please call us when you need objective expertise in how to make your products more successful. Our phone number is 781-275-3020 and e-mail Kay@UsabilityResources.net. We invite you to visit www.UsabilityResources.net for more information.
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