Vision – Think about the ideal design review. How will it go? What will change once it’s done?
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?
Reserve / BATNA – What are your “must haves” and “nice to haves”?
Review
Thinking clearly – Check yourself and your thinking
Negotiation – Find agreement in the moment
Maintain perspective on what success looks like for you
Keep uncovering interests of others
Keep listening and learning
Keep emotions and bias in check
Acknowledge emotions if necessary
Ground the conversation in the data
Reframe questions and ideas
Check against known biases (recency, availability, sunk cost, etc.)
Switch context and validate
Be prepared to create the solution together
Get commitment and participation, not just approval and consent
Follow Through
Overcommunicate the journey, results and commitments
Set tripwires – schedule check-ins and milestones to ensure the right actions have been taken (and the wrong actions avoided).