A Winning Formula For Design Reviews
By: Nick Rickard
Tags: Design, User Experience Design, Critique, Design Leadership, Teamwork

A New Approach to Reviews

The key to successful reviews, then, is to steer feedback toward the 4 points mentioned above, and away from the frustrating churn that sometimes comes out of these reviews. Here is a formula that should help eliminate frustration, make more efficient use of the team’s time and leave everyone involved feeling good about the end result.

The formula consists of three parts -

Fabulous Facilitator + Prepared Presenter + Amazing Audience = 😊 Design Review

Following this formula helps align the team on the goals and provides context for the feature being reviewed. This gives everyone the clarity to move forward in a constructive manner. Here’s how to implement the approach for your next review.

#1: Be a Fabulous Facilitator

The facilitator may or may not be the presenter in a design review, but he or she is the individual in charge of moving things along quickly and efficiently. Part of the gig is also setting ground rules and expectations for the presenters and audience members. The facilitator enables the presenter to have a successful review by enforcing a few basic guidelines. Being a great facilitator requires being a bit bossy, but in a productive way.

Rules for the Fabulous Facilitator:

Focus the group on the type of feedback that the presenter needs. Encourage attention by discouraging the use of phones, laptops, Nintendo Switches … you get it. Squash irrelevant discussions in a gentle manner: “Let’s take this offline.” Keep an eye on the clock, and move the discussion along politely when needed. Promote participation by directly asking attendees for feedback.

#2: Come Prepared

The prepared presenter is the designer who is owning the project. Adequate preparation will look different depending on where the project is in the product life-cycle. Our team typically has three stages: Discovery, Delivery and Support.

The first part of the product life-cycle is the Discovery stage. In this stage things are fluid, so the designer is still working through the problem we can solve for our user and how to go about it. This is where constructive feedback and ideas from other team members can be most crucial.

Discovery consists of rough ideas and simple wireframes. Image: Jose Cuffia

We spend most of our time in the Delivery stage. This is where we start ideating on solutions toward the problem statement. Finally, the last stage of our product design life-cycle is the Support stage. In these stages, feedback on inconsistencies or UX-specific issues are more important.

A prepared presenter should make sure to tell the audience which product design life-cycle stage they are in and what type of feedback they are looking for. For example, if you are in the later part of the development stage, it may not be helpful to rehash a debate on the problem statement.

A prepared presenter should start by telling the story of the feature. It’s important to go into just enough detail so the audience understands some context. At the same time, don’t go overboard and cause bias in the feedback you receive. Remember, you can learn a lot from people’s first reactions. Here are a few suggestions to ensure that you are prepared.

Rules for the Prepared Presenter:

Explain the project’s goal. Be clear about the type of feedback you are seeking. Keep things concise. Let the design/prototype speak for itself. Take notes on the feedback.

#3: Amaze Your Associates

To be an amazing audience member, the first step is to be kind and constructive. Remember, you will have to show your work at some point, too. It’s always good to keep the golden rule in mind

“D o unto others as you would have them do unto you.”

Start with the positive. By staying positive, you can focus on the things that are working and keep the presenter engaged rather than defensive. You can also soften the blow for aspects of the design that really need to change. It’s best to keep the discussion top-level in large design reviews. The presenter will likely have additional, smaller reviews for getting deeper into the weeds later on.

Rules for the Amazing Audience