Design feedback — Let’s agree to disagree and move on
Design Disagreementssss! It always happens, no matter what. Sometimes happen with design peers and sometimes with non-design ones.
But there’s a reason to feel HAPPY about it
And feel HAPPIER when it happens with non-designers too.
Why?
Because it indicates,
- I am surrounded by people with opinions and not the YES mentality types.
- I am surrounded by folks with high-level-CURIOSITY.
- People in my org, consciously or subconsciously, believe in the IMPACT of design.
Being with opinionated and design-curious folks is as good as having a quality ingredient. The final product tastes superior. But mind you, quality ingredient is one aspect of a delicious dish. Chef’s ability to skillfully navigate the ingredients through varying temperatures and timings as things progress is equally important.
You need not have to give an instant response always. It’s okay to buy some time saying “I’ve captured your feedback, let me think and get back in X hours/days”. Assess the assertiveness of the feedback giver and accordingly time your response.
In other words, I would say handling disagreement is a skill. Needs to be handled with grace for successful negotiation and healthy professional rapport. Managing with grace doesn’t mean that by the end there’s always a shared understanding or they lose, I win. Closing a discussion by saying “Let’s agree to disagree and move on” also exemplifies handling disagreement with grace.
At times, it does happen that no amount of discussion or data or insights yield results. You don’t feel like stretching the conversation further. An easy route one can take is by faking their agreement. You might say “I see your point. Let’s take it forward” or “I think we had enough discussion on this. I feel neutral about it. You being the project owner, please take the final call.”
Another way is to convey the disagreement is using a straight route. Quoting an example below
“Thanks for being open with your thoughts. At this stage, I would like to agree to disagree and move on. I still have a different opinion and the rationale is <insights/data/reason>. You being the owner of the project, please take the final call. Let’s park this discussion, ship it, and let the data-post-launch lead us to shared learning. I would recommend monitoring <data> in the analytics”
A response blended with gratitude, agree to disagree statement, rationale, decision making, metrics to track etc has always helped me close projects on a graceful note.
That said, you must lean upon this option when everything fails. I’ve also shared my thoughts on skillful navigation of feedbacks from disagreement territory to shared-understanding territory in these posts:
