Design Reviews

Preparation

1. Vision – Think about the ideal design review. How will it go? What will change once it’s done?
2. Relationships – Who is directly and indirectly involved? What are their interests? How do your interests overlap? How might you prepare them for a successful review?
3. Reserve / BATNA – What are your “must haves” and “nice to haves”?

Review

1. Thinking clearly – Check yourself and your thinking
2. Negotiation – Find agreement in the moment
   1. Maintain perspective on what success looks like for you
   2. Keep uncovering interests of others
   3. Keep listening and learning
   4. Keep emotions and bias in check
      1. Acknowledge emotions if necessary
      2. Ground the conversation in the data
      3. Reframe questions and ideas
      4. Check against known biases (recency, availability, sunk cost, etc.)
      5. Switch context and validate
   5. Be prepared to create the solution together
   6. Get commitment and participation, not just approval and consent

Follow Through

1. Overcommunicate the journey, results and commitments
2. Set tripwires – schedule check-ins and milestones to ensure the right actions have been taken (and the wrong actions avoided).