Overview
We’ve all been there: weeks into a project, you discover that you and your stakeholders have wildly different ideas about what you’re building — and why, and who it’s for. Or you’re sure you’ve found the right approach for what you’re designing (it’s obvious!), but you get nowhere when you present it to the client. Or maybe your teammates dig in their heels about the interactions you’ve designed: it’ll be too difficult to build and test, there just isn’t enough time.
These might seem like hopeless situations, ones that designers are doomed to face repeatedly. But don’t despair! There are effective, battle-tested strategies you can use to turn these situations around. We might not think of facilitation, persuasion, and negotiation as essential design skills, but Naomi believes they’re an indispensable part of any designer’s toolkit.
As a designer, you’re selling your ideas, work, approaches, and solutions all the time — whether you realize it or not. Naomi will talk about how understanding the dynamics at play in these situations — and honing the skills to navigate them — helps you be more successful with the things you care about.
Objective
In this talk, Naomi will walk you through examples of what facilitation, persuasion, and negotiation can look like as part of your design toolkit. She’ll also explore the benefits in the short and long term: to you, your team, and your stakeholders. Finally, she’ll present strategies that you can start to use right now, to set you up for success and give your awesome designs a fighting chance of ending up in users’ hands.
Target Audience
Designers, and anyone who manages or works with designers
Five Things Audience Members Will Learn
- What we mean by facilitation, persuasion, and negotiation for designers
- How these skills enhance your design toolkit and improve your professional relationships
- Common challenges, roadblocks, and conflicts that these skills help you overcome
- What’s at stake? Why these challenges arise, and how you benefit from resolving them
- What you can do to get started with all of this
