I'm so excited to finally be able to share that I'll be speaking at Adaptive Path's 2007 User Experience Week conference in Washington D.C. this August. I'll be talking about Smoothing the Way: the Designer as Facilitator. Thanks to Sarah Nelson and the rest of the Adaptive Path crew for inviting me to share some of the thinking and practice here at nForm about building buy-in and consensus across different project stakeholders.

Here's my session description (which should show up on the Adaptive Path site shortly)

Even the best design or architecture methods, tools, and teams can’t save a project that falls to political infighting, divided priorities, and unclear direction. For designers and our toolbox of methods to make an impact there needs to be business buy-in and a shared understanding of project direction and outcomes. Often, it’s up to us to smooth the way and facilitate this consensus.

This session will show how practitioners can bridge competing viewpoints, develop common vision, and break through project roadblocks. This approach builds on existing design skillsets and introduces specific facilitation techniques to engage business stakeholders.

By focusing on smoothing the way early in a project, designers can build buy-in, avoid wasted effort, increase their influence with their teams, and make a more meaningful difference with their work.

Posted in Announcements on April 30, 2007

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