Articulating Design Decisions

Communicate with Stakeholders, Keep Your Sanity, and Deliver the Best User Experience

By: Tom Greever

Narrated by: Ric Chetter

Talking to people about your designs might seem like a basic skill, but it can be difficult to do well. In many cases, how you communicate with stakeholders, clients, and other non-designers may be more important than the designs themselves. Because if you can't get their support, your work will never see the light of day - no matter how good it is.

This practical guide focuses on principles, tactics, and actionable methods for presenting your designs. Whether you design apps, websites, or products, you'll learn how to get support from people who have influence over the project with the goal of creating the best user experience.

Walk through the process of preparing and presenting your designs.

Understand stakeholder perspectives and learn how to empathize with them.

Cultivate both implicit and explicit listening skills.

Learn tactics and strategies for expressing the most effective response to feedback.

Create the right documentation for your decisions to avoid repeated conversations.

Discover why the way you follow through is just as important as the meeting itself.

©2020 Tom Greever (P)2021 Upfront Books

Helpful for Both Executives & Designers

I plan to listen to this book again, as it provided helpful hints for managing stakeholder relationships in the workplace.

UX Strategy Meets Humans

Tom Greever provides a clear roadmap of how to advocate for UX. IMO, this is for those of us navigating the crossroads of UX and business - that is, for every single person working in a UX role.

He reminds us that stakeholders are not roadblocks, but people. We can use our empathy and other UX skills to design an ongoing, constructive and mutually beneficial experience (relationship!) that shows them the value of our work in terms that are meaningful to them.

I can imagine some personalities feeling that certain example suggestions don’t feel like “them” - don’t get caught up in that. Just think about how *you* show appreciation to people, and maybe communicate how you show appreciation to people, and then make an effort to show people that you do appreciate them - even if what you’re currently appreciating is more of a hope or bid for the future. People pick up on and rise to your expectations, so make them positive.

A design must read

All ux designer should read/listen to this book. Really useful content, wish I had had read this years ago!

Simply the best communication coaching book!

If there was as book that captured best communication practices in design, this is it.

Amazing

I was taking notes in every minute! This books is one of the best in design