Article Idea:
Resolving Differences of Opinion in Product Design
suggested by Teresa Torres on 2007/12/26
Product design is a contentious topic. Everyone from the CEO to the receptionist has an opinion about what the product should do and how it should look. It’s great when everyone in your company is engaged with what you are building but it becomes a challenge when it comes to resolving these differences. As product designers, we play a critical role in defining the process to resolution.
Whenever disagreement occurs, whether it be as broad as what the product does or as specific as what color the links should be, I’ve found that following process works well. 1) Clearly define the problem. 2) Define the working constraints. 3) Understand the perspectives of all stakeholders and make sure the constraints cover their needs. 4) Only entertain solutions that address the problem and respect the constraints. 5) Validate solutions with users.
I’d like to write an article providing more detail on how to use this process in practice and possibly walk through a case study.
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C Archambault
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Posted 2007/12/27 @ 07:38AM with
I have been thinking the same thing. We build applications for internal use, and I find that NO ONE in IT is thinking about marketing, but we must to ensure adoption and success. In areas where we’ve heavily engaged users in product design and testing, adoption and success is ensured. But the word doesn’t spread to everyone. Combined with a fear of change, where there are pockets of users who aren’t touched by the design/testing process, the product initally fails and we have to do a lot of positive-press and one-on-one marketing.