4 Ways to Deal with Politics in Product Design

Dear Designer,

Have you ever worked at a company where getting a survey approved felt like passing a bill through Congress? ??

Design deals with the new, and it always runs into politics.

The tiniest innovation can feel like a revolution in a slow-moving organization.

When motives and hidden agendas block projects for no apparent reason, it can be de-motivating. But you can change this.

You're allowed to influence company politics.

Let's look for ways to manage politics from the political world with activists and lobbyists.

How to design like an activist

Often, designers deal with company politics like an activist. Here are 2 quick ways:

1. Use "outlier personas" to drive advocacy.

At the core of UX is an extreme empathy for the user's pain points, needs, and desires. Many UX-led companies use personas to keep specific use cases at the center of product development. Personas are an excellent advocacy tool, as they turn large swaths of data into a story. Empathy is easier when we personify data.

If I look at the masses, I will never act. If I look at the one, I will. ~Mother Teresa

I know what you're thinking: "But personas are in every UX portfolio now, and most of them suck." I hear you, and that can easily happen with boring, half-researched personas. They're just too mainstream and, well, obvious.

When your core personas fail, an "outlier persona" can help you focus on the edge cases like an activist. A persona can be an advocacy tool to bring forgotten users into the spotlight. This approach is similar to the empathy that drives activists to fight for the rights of marginalized groups.

Let's say you work for an HR product company, and your main users are HR and Operations people. You should invest a lot of research and energy into understanding these two main personas. But sometimes, a user like an intern pops in and uses your tool surprisingly. An intern-like persona is the perfect outlier persona. They're underserved and use the tool with a different lens entirely. Imagine that complicated onboarding flow through the eyes of an intern! Playing the wildcard persona can help your team see where you aren't advocating for the right people.

How to do it: Research and create a user persona for an under-served yet lucrative user type. This "outlier persona" doesn't have to drive all of your decisions, but it can certainly improve a few. Use it as a spark for brainstorming out-of-the-box ideas or checking bias.

2. Use pattern libraries that go against the status quo.

Pattern libraries don't have to be based on existing code. A pattern library can be a mood board where you catalog emerging design patterns. You can gather inspiration in a messy Figjam board with screenshots of interesting approaches that can be a constant source of inspiration.

How to do it: Run a monthly team workshop where everyone brings a new design pattern to the meeting. Keep this pattern research in a shared Figjam board and bring it up whenever you're stuck on implementing a design.

Activists are known for challenging accepted beliefs. In the same way, designers can challenge accepted beliefs by finding new design patterns to make the company more unique, an excellent way to carve out a strategic niche.

How to design like a lobbyist

Okay, this one's for all the realists. Here are 2 ways to run design like a lobbyist:

3. Use ZOPA for stakeholder negotiations.

Often, you will find yourself negotiating with decision-makers in a project. Like a lobbyist, you don't have any real decision-making power, so the art of negotiation becomes important.

When you're trying to get a design idea approved, you should be aware of the limits of that stakeholder. The "zone of possible agreement" is called the ZOPA.

Let's say you're trying to get more time for research. Your manager may have a zone of time that they are willing to give you. But if you go outside of their zone, you may get shut down before you can negotiate. A little research can help you make an initial guess on your manager's zone.

Once you've established a zone of possible agreement, the negotiation can start. If there is no zone of possible agreement, negotiation might be the wrong approach.

How to do it: Negotiate a budget for your next project with the ZOPA approach (Zone of Possible Agreement). Look for the overlap between what you desire from the budget vs. what your manager is willing to offer.

4. Use insights to influence strategy.

Lobbyists push for new laws that will benefit their constituents. They present facts and ideas, hoping to inspire policy changes. Designers can do the same for company strategy by feeding research insights upward.

While most designers think of insights on a project basis, insights can be bigger than a single design. An insight can influence company strategy, with the right lobbying.

Imagine you were working on a project, and a user insight told you that your user journey involved multiple people. Until then, all of your product data was thought to be from a single user, but it turns out, there are several users involved. That's exactly the kind of insight that can make its way into company strategy.

You'll need to spend some time researching and iterating on insights before they're ready for the strategy level. For a high-risk insight like that, you better be a pro at writing insights (use this insight guide + template I made). You want to be confident in your insight before campaigning for it to influence strategy.

How to do it: From customer and competitor research, start a list of the top 3 user insights that can be company-changing. Make a slide for the best insight, including the evidence and a visual. Ask leadership how you might get this insight into the company strategy. Listen to their advice and keep campaigning!

Review:

1. Use "outlier personas" to drive advocacy

2. Use pattern libraries that go against the status quo

3. Use ZOPA for stakeholder negotiations

4. Use insights to influence strategy

Design is already an amalgamation of many professions, so don't be afraid to borrow something from politics.

Besides activists and lobbyists, what political actors can you draw inspiration from?

Presidents? Court jesters? ??

-Jeff Humble