The UX design process, though very creative and interesting, is often also very unpredictable in nature and might be very hard to manage. Every designer or project manager has come across issues like misunderstanding with clients, freezed or unfinished projects, rejected ideas, deadlines violation or even conflict with stakeholders. Obviously, each of these problems might have its own reasons and require separate solutions, but overall, having not enough control over a UX project is a common problem of its own. Let's discuss a few tips that can help organize UX projects more smoothly and retain control over them more effectively.
Study stakeholders' requests more thoroughly
One major issue that affects a lot of UX projects is inefficient communication with stakeholders. Managers and designers start offering solutions based on their vision without a thorough understanding of stakeholders' vision, which leads to the latter receiving a different product from what they actually envisioned. To avoid that, it is crucial to have a constant interaction with stakeholders at the stage of planning, getting them familiar with every project charter, map and other documentation, making sure their requirements are fully captured and every idea gets their approval. It might seem like this approach robs designers of a creative side, but it's better to reach agreements with your clients from the start rather than redo half of the project later.
Establish quality standards everyone agrees on
Another important point everyone should agree on at the start of the design process is the definition of quality. Everyone's quality standards differ, so what seems a perfectly crafted product to one might be perceived as a poorly done job by the other. Here, you have to not only mutually establish a clear definition of "quality", but also come to an agreement on defining various levels of quality. In particular, it is very important to decide on what is considered a baseline in terms of quality, so you could later use that criteria to rate parts of the design which form the final product.
Have a plan of actions in case of unexpected changes
Changes are inevitable in any working process, and UX is not an exception. It's impossible to insure the project against changes, but what is possible is to invest in a plan that will help effectively manage those changes without wasting time, having to redo a huge load of work or even putting the project on pause in case of unexpectancy. Create a plan that includes various scenarios of solving possible issues and ways to adapt to possible changes. In case of actual changes, keep track of each change request documentarily, including a list of participants involved, tasks that were performed and how it affected the overall product.
Merge similar processes to ease the work
If you have several UX projects going on at the same time, it is reasonable to merge similar processes to make the work go easier and faster. For example, you can use the same template for conducting user surveys or apply the same methods for customer research across different projects. Many companies create shared folders with templates, wireframes, resources, useful new info and other data that every team member has access to, so that everyone in the company can share useful tools and their experience with others. This leads to a more reasonable use of time and resources, which results in an overall better work organization.
Embrace several management approaches
Any UX project includes stakeholders, clients and executors (team members). Managing these three groups together requires several approaches: for instance, conducting talks with stakeholders is considered an "up" approach, while bringing designers to work on the same project and organizing their communication is called "managing across". Mastering these different approaches and knowing where to use which plays a huge role in the success of a UX project and your ability to control anything that happens along the way.
One of the most essential factors that are required to organize and manage a UX project successfully, apart from mentioned above ones, are well-developed soft skills. In fact, in some cases they even play a bigger role than anything else. Managing a UX project involves a lot of communication between team members, clients, stakeholders and potential users, which all involves the need to bring people together, organize their collaboration, help them communicate their ideas, find common ground and solve occasional conflicts. Here are the main soft skills project managers and designers should have in order to organize a UX project:
Communication
Communication skills are the number one soft skill for any professional working in a team. Creating a software product is a team work, and in order to successfully collaborate with all parties involved, you should be in constant communication with everyone, discussing various ideas, evaluating each other's work, sharing your vision with others, conducting meetings with stakeholders. Independent work is not something that is possible in UX, so being able to build fruitful communication is the only way to organize an effective UX project.
Collaboration
The ability to collaborate is closely related to the ability to communicate, but it includes some niceties. Being a good collaborator means being open to the visions of others, taking criticism calmly, evaluating the work of others objectively and without bias, knowing how to avoid conflicts and retain a respectful atmosphere when working with people with diverse visions. Most of all, it involves being able to take responsibility for your work and actions and not letting your team down for any reasons.
Interviewing
Conducting interviews is an essential part of a UX design, whether it's user interviews for surveys, or interviews with job candidates for a project, which makes the ability to take interviews another essential soft skill. In order to conduct any type of interview correctly, a professional should be able to ask the right questions, listen attentively without interrupting, be genuinely curious and know how to steer the conversation in the right direction.
Empathy
The primary idea of UX design is to provide users with a comfortable and seamless experience within a product, and in order to do that, everyone working on a UX project should have empathy skills that allow them to look at a product from users’ perspective and get a deep understanding of their needs and expectations.
Solving problems
Stumbling upon various problems and issues is inevitable in any working process, and UX is not an exception. That’s why it’s vital for project managers and everyone else in a UX team to have problem-solving skills, being capable of finding ways out of any tricky situations with minimal losses.
Public speaking
Working in UX, you will occasionally have to make presentations in order to showcase your ideas and products to stakeholders, clients and colleagues. Thus it is extremely important to master presentation skills and be able to speak in front of an audience in a way that makes them interested and eager to listen.
Conclusion
Correctly executed management plays a huge role in the success of any UX project. The more control you retain over a project, the more chances there are that no unexpected situations could pause the work or ruin the whole process. The key factors for retaining control are establishing strong communication with stakeholders and clients, agreeing on quality standards before the start, preparing a plan of actions in case of unexpected changes, using previous experience in organizing similar projects and choosing a correct management approach wisely according to the situation and who you are working with at the moment. It is also vital to constantly train your soft skills, as they play a huge role in building successful communication with everyone involved in the work processes.
