What do you do if your User Experience Design (UED) project has conflicting priorities?

Identifying the source of the conflict is a good way to get started. Could be a misunderstanding, miscommunication, or even a clash of tasks. You can better address the situation after you've identified the source.

If the project has a strong product approach with the professional Product Owner, so the backlog prioritization is on their side. In this case, the Designer should be on the same page with the PO's vision. On the other hand, the Designer is aware of the product roadmap and has an opportunity to remind the PO of the goals that have been set. This is especially helpful when the Designer is asked to work on conflicting tasks within the roadmap in terms of the order of the design process.

The usual triada participants when UED prioritization conflict accures are Product Owner, Designer, and Analyst. There can be many reasons from the human factor to pushing their own reasons, but anyway the best option is to set a common call for three teammates and untangle this case. In my experience, almost always the reason was a small misunderstanding in the beginning, which snowballed to pretty big (but harmless) situations in the end.

The next phase involves efficient communication with all UED project stakeholders, which is vital for conflict resolution. Clear communication clarifies expectations, requirements, and constraints, fostering trust and collaboration. Employ diverse tools like meetings, emails, chats, surveys, and feedback sessions to share information effectively.

When we talk about enterprise (B2E) product design, our "users" are actually our colleagues from different departments. And here comes the friendliness bias between key stakeholders/customers/managers. Some of them can easily push the development of feature B, while it has to be based on feature A, which hasn't been designed yet. And this can cause serious cost problems in the future. And this is the role of the Designer (honestly, the role of any other team member too) to highlight such risks and propose the design/development flow to avoid such a situation.

Step three involves prioritizing the UED project according to user needs and value proposition. This alignment ensures a user-centric focus and meets business objectives effectively.

Starting with an understanding of the goals and worries of every stakeholder involved is essential because it sets the stage for successful negotiation. Aim for agreements that benefit everyone involved, making sure that all priorities are addressed while staying on track with the project's goals. Record all of the agreements. This makes sure that later on, everyone is held accountable. providing a reference for future conversations.

The next step involves testing and iterating the UED project using feedback and data from users and stakeholders. This process validates assumptions, improves quality, usability, and desirability of the product or service. Various methods like prototypes, user testing, analytics, or A/B testing can be utilized to measure performance and impact.

There are so many ways to avoid having conflicting priorities in UX design, and all the steps mentioned can definitely help you avoid it.