Talking to Stakeholders13 Communication Anti-Patterns That Block Good IdeasUX Australia, Brisbane, 27 August 2015
UX AUSTRALIA 2015 @POLAROIDGRRL#13antipatterns
That’s myClient from Hell’s
line!The gameshow where we ask you,
What the hell does your client’s line mean?
I’ll show you a piece of feedback from ClientsFromHell.net
You tell me what the client is really saying
Question 1
“We want the design to be intentionally confusing to show how complicated the concept is.”
“We’ve conflated complex with confusing, and we need a design solution that communicates the
complexity without sacrificing usability.”
Question 2“Don’t use sky blue as a “feelgood” background color. It’s not essential for our users to feel good as
long as they spend money.”
“You need to make the case for the link between user satisfaction and profit.”
Question 3“Our main goal is to get people to sign up to our newsletter, we need a huge green sign up
button in the middle of the page, like on twitter.com”
“Our KPI is to increase signups so your job is to sell us a better solution.”
SPEAKING DIFFERENT LANGUAGES
UX AUSTRALIA 2015 @POLAROIDGRRL#13antipatterns
NO CONSISTENT DESIGN LANGUAGEHAVING DIFFERENT KPIs
LANGUAGE ANTI-PATTERNS
STAKEHOLDER SAFARI
THE MEETING BEFORE / AFTER THE MEETING
STEP BACK
PLAY IT BACKUX AUSTRALIA 2015 @POLAROIDGRRL#13antipatterns
PRESENTING WITHOUT CONTEXTUALISING
UX AUSTRALIA 2015 @POLAROIDGRRL#13antipatterns
ASSUMING OTHERS DON’T GET DESIGNTHROWING DELIVERABLES OVER THE FENCE
PRESENTING ANTI-PATTERNS
PREPARE FOR PRESENTATIONBE PRESENT TO PRESENTCASTING FEEDBACKSET SCOPE EXPECTATIONSACTIVELY CONFIRM
UX AUSTRALIA 2015 @POLAROIDGRRL#13antipatterns
BEING IN THE ROOM, BUT NOT PRESENT
UX AUSTRALIA 2015 @POLAROIDGRRL#13antipatterns
NOT EMBRACING EVERYONE’S GOALSLIVING IN THE DELIVERABLES
INSISTING ON PERFECTION
WORKING ANTI-PATTERNS
IN-PERSON ACCESS
STENOGRAPHER’S PATTERNLIFE IN MONO
SCARY FACE PATTERN
UX AUSTRALIA 2015 @POLAROIDGRRL#13antipatterns
RESPONDING TO TONE, NOT CONTENT
UX AUSTRALIA 2015 @POLAROIDGRRL#13antipatterns
NOT DEFENDING HARD ENOUGH
DEFENDING TOO HARD
DEFENDING ANTI-PATTERNS
ARRIVE VIA MoSCoWBEGINNING, MIDDLE + ENDSNAP THE ELASTIC USER
EDUCATE
UX AUSTRALIA 2015 @POLAROIDGRRL#13antipatterns