User Experience Strategy Workshops

🎡 How To Run UX Workshops With Users (Scripts + Templates) (https://lnkd.in/evqDZSFe), a helpful overview of practical techniques to turn a verbal-only interview into a collaborative UX workshop — with sticky note mapping, solution drag’n’drop and voting. Put together by Laura Eiche-Laane. 👏🏽 🤔 Users and designers often a speak a different language. ✅ Insights are clearer when you see users performing tasks. ✅ Switch question-answer sections with small visual tasks. ✅ Sticky note mapping: for user flows, journeys, org maps. ✅ Card sorting: organize data, filters, menu items into groups. ✅ Feature location: ask users where they’d expect a new feature. ✅ Drag’n’drop: ask users to design their own UI or page layout. ✅ Solution voting: get feedback on many design directions. ✅ When explaining a task, show what you’d like them to do. ✅ Track where users are undecided, and follow up in a debrief. When I jump in a new project, I like to run walkthroughs with actual users as a way to understand the domain and the product. I simply ask them what the product does and how it helps them in their daily work. And then I invite them to show and explain it to me. I ask them to show how it works, the features they use, the quirks they’ve discovered and the shortcuts and loopholes they rely on daily. Perhaps there is something where the product fails on them, or something they wish was better, or something that is too fragile, confusing, complex or irrelevant. That’s when insights emerge, and that’s when you might notice that the things said and the things done are not necessarily the same thing. Of course users sometimes exaggerate their struggles, but they rarely complain lividly about something that isn’t really an issue for them. 🗃️ Useful resources: How And Why To Include Users In UX Workshops, by Maddie Brown https://lnkd.in/eKdd5GXp UX Workshop Activities With Users, by Jonathon Juvenal https://lnkd.in/eJjpcibR Remote UX Workshop Activities, by Jordan Bowman https://lnkd.in/e8wSMVwC Usability Testing Templates (Scripts), by Slava Shestopalov https://lnkd.in/gZyBtK6u UX Workshop Scripts + Templates https://theuxcookbook.com UX Research Templates, by Odette Jansen https://lnkd.in/eqpXyGHH --- 🧲 Miro and Notion templates: UX Research Templates (Miro), by ServiceNow https://lnkd.in/e48nKzKA Miro Templates For Designers https://lnkd.in/e8Hkp-ws Notion Templates For Designers https://lnkd.in/en_VBc6r #ux #design

Your research findings are useless if they don't drive decisions. After watching countless brilliant insights disappear into the void, I developed 5 practical templates I use to transform research into action: 1. Decision-Driven Journey Map Standard journey maps look nice but often collect dust. My Decision-Driven Journey Map directly connects user pain points to specific product decisions with clear ownership. Key components: - User journey stages with actions - Pain points with severity ratings (1-5) - Required product decisions for each pain - Decision owner assignment - Implementation timeline This structure creates immediate accountability and turns abstract user problems into concrete action items. 2. Stakeholder Belief Audit Workshop Many product decisions happen based on untested assumptions. This workshop template helps you document and systematically test stakeholder beliefs about users. The four-step process: - Document stakeholder beliefs + confidence level - Prioritize which beliefs to test (impact vs. confidence) - Select appropriate testing methods - Create an action plan with owners and timelines When stakeholders participate in this process, they're far more likely to act on the results. 3. Insight-Action Workshop Guide Research without decisions is just expensive trivia. This workshop template provides a structured 90-minute framework to turn insights into product decisions. Workshop flow: - Research recap (15min) - Insight mapping (15min) - Decision matrix (15min) - Action planning (30min) - Wrap-up and commitments (15min) The decision matrix helps prioritize actions based on user value and implementation effort, ensuring resources are allocated effectively. 4. Five-Minute Video Insights Stakeholders rarely read full research reports. These bite-sized video templates drive decisions better than documents by making insights impossible to ignore. Video structure: - 30 sec: Key finding - 3 min: Supporting user clips - 1 min: Implications - 30 sec: Recommended next steps Pro tip: Create a library of these videos organized by product area for easy reference during planning sessions. 5. Progressive Disclosure Testing Protocol Standard usability testing tries to cover too much. This protocol focuses on how users process information over time to reveal deeper UX issues. Testing phases: - First 5-second impression - Initial scanning behavior - First meaningful action - Information discovery pattern - Task completion approach This approach reveals how users actually build mental models of your product, leading to more impactful interface decisions. Stop letting your hard-earned research insights collect dust. I’m dropping the first 3 templates below, & I’d love to hear which decision-making hurdle is currently blocking your research from making an impact! (The data in the templates is just an example, let me know in the comments or message me if you’d like the blank versions).

When your designing new people experiences & products, building advocacy starts way earlier than you think. That brilliant idea or initiative you’re trying to get off the ground? You can’t wait until the launch deck, the town hall, or the pilot. Because by then, often it’s too late. Advocacy doesn’t come from a polished pitch. It comes from early interventions and intentional invitations. One tool we’ve been using more often in our design-led change work is the Pre-Mortem Card (check it out below), a deceptively simple tool that really gets to rich insight & unexpected advocacy. So let me tell you a bit more about it and how we use it. Now whilst the title might sound a bit bleak and morbid, this exercise can be a lot of fun (I promise), and is all about flipping the script from “What would make this work?” to asking “What would make this fail?”. Still sounds pretty negative,? Maybe, but diving into this space early on invites people to critique the idea before they get defensive and protective over it. And, even more importantly, it makes people (the people who will use it, fund it and build it) feel seen, like their concerns, experience, and instincts matter. And this is where the advocacy part comes in. Because instead of just pitching, you’re co-creating. When people see their input on the design, even through a critical lens, they become invested in its success and progress. And you’ll find that they follow up and ask how things are going. And this cute little card can turn sceptics into supporters (and we all need a bit of that, right?) So here's how to get started with your PX Pre-mortem: Walk through it with a small, but intentionally invited, group of stakeholders or collaborators: 1️⃣ Start with clarity. Use the top row of the card to define: + Your Idea description + What success looks like + Your confidence level (get a sense check from the group) 2️⃣ Explore what could go wrong. Don’t stop at just “failure forecast.” Prompt reflection with: + What are we assuming that might not hold true? + What behaviours might work against this idea? + What’s missing in terms of skills, capacity or resources? 3️⃣ Assess the evidence. Ask: What would give us confidence to proceed? Where would we get that evidence from? 4️⃣ Surface what's strong. Look at: + What do we already have that supports this idea? + What practical next step could strengthen it further? 5️⃣ Document and discuss. Capture all the insights and use them to progress, park or pivot the idea with more clarity and more buy-in. 👀 Leading change? Designing something new? Try out the Pre-Mortem card with your team. Need a Miro template or something higher qual than this little pic? Let me know 😊 #PeopleExperience #DesignThinking #Framework __________ Hi 👋 I'm Alicia, co-founder of The Future Kind. We build innovation cultures and company operating systems that scale with you. Want to know more? Follow along or DM me, I love to hear form you. 💌

👩💻 Picture this: A global product team is under pressure to innovate. The next big feature must: Delight customers, Beat competitors, Strengthen market position. Leadership sets up weekly cross-functional strategy meetings. On paper, it’s a dream setup: 📢 Marketing brings customer pain points ⚙️ Engineers know the technical possibilities 🎨 Designers understand user experience 📊 Analysts provide market data And yet… every meeting feels the same. 👉 A few senior voices dominate. The rest remain silent. Frustrated, leadership concludes: “They’re not strategic enough.” “They’re disengaged.” “They lack creativity.” But when I spoke to the team, a different story emerged: 😟 Fear of judgment: “If my idea isn’t polished, I’ll look foolish.” 😔 Past dismissal: “The last time I contributed, it was brushed aside.” ⏳ No structure: “By the time I frame my thought, the conversation has already moved on.” 💡 It wasn’t disengagement. It was a design flaw in how participation was structured. As a Learning Experience Designer, I suggested practical shifts: 1️⃣ Pre-work idea collection → A shared digital whiteboard for input before meetings. 2️⃣ Structured discussion formats → Time-boxed rounds (2 minutes each) before open dialogue. 3️⃣ Psychological safety rituals → Leaders began with: “Every idea matters.” and modeled it. 4️⃣ Visible impact loop → Tracked which ideas became pilots, features, or improvements—and gave credit. ✨ The Impact: Employees once labeled “quiet” began sharing bold ideas. A junior engineer suggested a backend tweak that saved 💰 thousands in server costs. A designer proposed a UX change that cut onboarding time by ⏱️ 12%. The same people. The same talent. But in a redesigned environment, their best became visible. 🔑 Silence in meetings doesn’t mean absence of ideas. It often signals: “The environment doesn’t make contribution safe, easy, or worthwhile.” Leaders and L&D professionals share a responsibility: not to “fix people,” but to fix the circumstances that shape behavior. Because under the circumstances, everyone is already doing their best. 👉 Over to you: Have you ever been in a meeting where great ideas were left unsaid? What design changes could have unlocked them? #microlearning #learningwithhiral #learningeveyryda #Collaboration #InnovationAtWork #DesignThinking #FutureOfWork #TeamDynamics

I was once working on a project where one key stakeholder was… let’s say, not easy to work with. Constant last-minute changes, strong opinions, minimal responses on Jira or emails — and feedback always came in after we moved ahead. At first, I felt frustrated. I mean, as a Business Analyst, all I want is clarity, alignment, and moving forward together. But here’s what I did differently: 1) I scheduled short weekly syncs just with them — no agenda, no pressure, just a space to talk. 2) I stopped expecting structured feedback. I let them speak freely, took notes, and turned their thoughts into proper user stories. 3) I started sending back short summaries after every call — just to confirm, reduce misunderstandings, and track evolving requirements. 4) I noticed they weren’t active on Jira or long email chains, so I casually asked how they prefer to communicate. Turned out, they liked WhatsApp and quick voice notes — so I adapted. 5) I collaborated with the dev team to create quick mockups and visuals. They responded much better to that than documents. 6) Instead of defending timelines, I started showing how their feedback was shaping the product — and how it helped the end user. 7) I even built a “wish list” backlog for their ideas — not everything made it to the roadmap, but they felt heard. It wasn’t overnight. But slowly, they became more engaged, more trusting, and less reactive. One day, they said: “Thanks for your patience — I know I haven’t made this easy.” And honestly? That meant more than any formal feedback ever could. Lesson learned: Tough stakeholders aren’t always difficult — sometimes, they just need someone to translate their thoughts and make them feel heard. Ever been in a similar situation? Would love to hear how you handled it. #BusinessAnalysis #StakeholderManagement #ProjectLife #ProductDevelopment #RealTalk #LessonsFromTheField #Opentowork #UnitedArabEmirates

Passionate problem solvers are easy to label as "too negative" or "having an agenda". Here's a good approach to bringing people on the journey: 1. Start with what you see and hear Describe specific behaviors, patterns, or outcomes as objectively as possible (knowing that we can never be truly objective). Be mindful of your potential biases. Are your emotions and perspective narrowing what you bring up? Avoid using loaded or triggering language. Keep it neutral and clear. 2. Invite others to share what they see and hear By starting with your own observations, you are setting an example for the rest of the team. Invite the team to share their perspectives and observations in ways that focus on understanding, rather than labeling or jumping to conclusions. In the right context, it might be better to start here. 3. Look inwards, observe, and listen Just as you describe outward behaviors, turn inward and notice how you feel about what you’re seeing and hearing. Instead of saying, “This place is a pressure cooker,” try, “I feel a lot of pressure.” Avoid jumping to conclusions or ascribing blame. Again, invite other people to do the same. 4. Spot areas to explore With observations and emotions on the table, identify areas worth examining. Avoid rushing to label them as problems or opportunities. Instead, frame them as questions or areas to look into. This keeps the tone open and focused on discovery. 5. Explore and go deeper As potential areas emerge, repeat the earlier steps: describe what you see, invite others to share, and observe how you feel. It is a recursive/iterative process—moving up and down levels of detail. 6. Look for alignment and patterns Notice where people are starting to align on what they’d like to see more—or less—of. Pay attention to areas where there’s consistent divergence—these are opportunities as well. Ask, “What might it take to narrow the divide?” 7. Frame clear opportunities Once patterns emerge, focus on turning them into clear opportunities. These are not solutions—they’re starting points for exploration. For example: “We could improve this handoff process” or “We’re not all on the same page about priorities.” Keep it actionable and forward-looking. 8. Brainstorm small experiments Use opportunities as a springboard to brainstorm simple, manageable experiments. Think of these as ways to test and learn, not perfect fixes. For example: “What if we tried a weekly check-in for this process?” Keep the ideas practical and easy to implement. 9. Stay grounded and flexible Be mindful of how the group is feeling and responding as you brainstorm. Are people rushing to solutions or becoming stuck? If so, take a step back and revisit earlier steps to re-center the group. 10. Step back. Let the group own it Once there’s momentum, step back and hand over ownership to the group. Avoid holding onto the issue as “your problem.” Trust the process you’ve built and the team’s ability to move things forward collectively.

Everyone is a designer. Yet, many stakeholders need an understanding of design principles, and that's okay. This is the paradox of modern design. As professionals, we must lean into our craft and support team members who may need help understanding how design adds value.  To overcome design literacy challenges, I’ve found that using an iterative design process, making design choices simple and clear, and gathering user feedback is essential for aligning everyone's understanding. 1️⃣ Iterative Design → Continuous Feedback, Use an iterative design process that incorporates user feedback. This allows stakeholders to see how their input directly influences the design. → Concept Testing, Regularly test design changes with users early on, making adjustments based on their feedback before finalizing anything. 2️⃣ Simplify Design Decisions → Clear Explanations, Provide clear explanations for design decisions, especially those that might be counterintuitive. This requires spending more time on getting presentations right. → Visual Aids, Explain design concepts using diagrams, videos, and infographics. Visual explanations can bridge the gap between expert design knowledge and user understanding. 3️⃣ Collect User Data → Feedback Collection, Gather detailed feedback with usability tests to understand user frustrations and areas of confusion. → Behavioral Data Analysis: Analyze user behavior to identify lacking areas. Use this data to inform design improvements and create more intuitive interfaces. → Multivariate Testing, Conduct tests to determine which design variations are more user-friendly. What techniques do you use? #productdesign #productdiscovery #userresearch #uxresearch

Projects don’t fail because of tools. They fail because of relationships. Stakeholder mapping isn’t bureaucracy — it’s how you build trust before you need it. It’s how you identify the voices who can accelerate progress… and the ones who can quietly stall it. Too often, teams treat stakeholders as obstacles — people to manage, not engage. But here’s the truth: if you don’t bring them in early, they’ll slow you down later. I use my Audit–Align–Act approach for every complex initiative 👇 1️⃣ Audit – See the full landscape Identify everyone touched by the work — directly or indirectly. Decision-makers, downstream users, quiet influencers. Understand the landscape early so you can anticipate tension and find allies. Stakeholders aren’t roadblocks. They’re early warning signals and success partners — if you know how to engage them. 2️⃣ Align – Understand influence, interest, and motivation Not every stakeholder carries the same weight. Audit for interest (who cares) and influence (who decides). Then go deeper: ↳ What’s their background? ↳ What’s their currency — recognition, data, control, speed? When you understand what drives people, you can advocate with them, not around them. 3️⃣ Act – Plan how you’ll engage This is where trust turns into strategy. Plan engagement based on what you’ve learned about each stakeholder: ↳ Who needs visibility and consistent updates? ↳ Who prefers a one-on-one conversation? ↳ Who values brief summaries versus detailed decks? ↳ Who can be a bridge to other groups? And yes — this also means making time for the informal moments. ↳ The hallway check-ins, coffee chats, or casual lunches where people let their guard down and share what’s really on their mind. ↳ Those touchpoints often reveal more than formal meetings ever will. ↳ Because influence is built one genuine interaction at a time. Stakeholder mapping isn’t a kickoff exercise. It’s a living process that strengthens alignment, relationships, and culture. If you’re not mapping your stakeholders, you’re leaving your success to chance. How do you ensure all stakeholders are seen and heard in your projects? ♻️ Repost to share with your network. ➕ Follow Janet Kim for more stories on leadership and career transformation. ~~~~~~ 📩 Want more strategies like this? Subscribe to Level Up Weekly - link in the Featured section. ~~~~~~ I leverage 19 years in Stanford tech to help emerging leaders think strategically, build influence, and execute with confidence, so you’re seen, heard and valued.

I always make people write down what they learned at the end of my workshops, but not in a three-bullets-and-you’re-done kind of way. I usually use one of these frameworks: 𝗔𝗵𝗮 / 𝗖𝗼𝗻𝗳𝗶𝗿𝗺 I ask participants to draw a line down the middle of their paper. One side, they answer: what's a new thing you learned? Other side: what did you already know but now have more confidence in? 𝗜 𝗹𝗶𝗸𝗲, 𝗜 𝘄𝗶𝘀𝗵, 𝗜 𝘄𝗼𝗻𝗱𝗲𝗿 These are three questions that prompt helpful reflection: → What did you really like about this session? → What do you wish you saw but maybe wasn't there? (Great feedback for me) → What are you wondering about, i.e., what idea are you taking forward? 𝗧𝗼𝗺𝗼𝗿𝗿𝗼𝘄 / 𝗡𝗲𝘅𝘁 𝗪𝗲𝗲𝗸 / 𝗡𝗲𝘅𝘁 𝗠𝗼𝗻𝘁𝗵 This is the most powerful one for stakeholder management or facilitation trainings. I ask: →  What is one thing you're doing literally tomorrow based on what we discussed? → What's one thing next week? → What's one thing next month? Then I create accountability for them to follow up with each other in monthly meetings. These frameworks came from years of watching people leave workshops jazzed up and then…doing nothing. Making sure your team has something they can do tomorrow, next week, and next month turns a workshop from a fun event into a real driver of change.

😅 Ever build an awesome new process, then realize you forgot to tell anyone about it? Yeah, me too. (Oops.) It's tempting to just flip the switch and say, "Ta-da! Go forth and use!" But we know how that ends... usually with confusion and some creative excuses. 🥴 The truth is: building it is the easy part. Bringing people along—that's where the real leadership magic kicks in. ✨ Here's what actually works (learned the hard way!): 👉 Admit you’re late to the party. A simple, “Hey, we built this, and honestly should’ve talked to you earlier—can we talk now?” goes a looooong way toward trust. (Transparency wins!) 👉 Swap "any feedback?" for real talk: "How would your team break this?" (Yes, seriously.) "If you could tweak one thing to make life easier, what would it be?" "Does this feel like it'll actually help, or did we just invent more busywork?" 👉 Context, not commandments. People resist "because I said so." They embrace "here's why this helps, and what we're trying to achieve." (Clarity unlocks buy-in faster than authority ever could.) 👉 Tiny moments of teamwork. Pilots, feedback loops, quick huddles, group chats—give stakeholders a chance to shape the outcome, even if it’s small. Ownership is a powerful motivator. 👉 Prepare for adoption (for real!). No documentation, training, or support? Congrats, you've built a shiny new paperweight! 🥳 At the end of the day, people don't resist change—they resist change done TO them instead of WITH them. I'd love to hear your stories! 👇 Ever rolled out something great (or not-so-great) and learned these lessons firsthand? Share your wisdom (or hilarious fails!) in the comments. #Leadership #RealTalk #ProcessAdoption #Collaboration #StakeholderEngagement #ChangeManagement #LaughAndLearn #PeopleFirst