UX Design Feedback Loops

🧭 How To Manage Challenging Stakeholders and Influence Without Authority (free eBook, 95 pages) (https://lnkd.in/e6RY6dQB), a practical guide on how to deal with difficult stakeholders, manage difficult situations and stay true to your product strategy. From HiPPOs (Highest Paid Person’s Opinion) to ZEbRAs (Zero Evidence But Really Arrogant). By Dean Peters. Key takeaways: ✅ Study your stakeholders as you study your users. ✅ Attach your decisions to a goal, metric, or a problem. ✅ Have research data ready to challenge assumptions. ✅ Explain your tradeoffs, decisions, customer insights, data. 🚫 Don’t hide your designs: show unfinished work early. ✅ Explain the stage of your work and feedback you need. ✅ For one-off requests, paint and explain the full picture. ✅ Create a space for small experiments to limit damage. ✅ Build trust for your process with regular key updates. 🚫 Don’t invite feedback on design, but on your progress. As designers, we often sit on our work, waiting for the perfect moment to show the grand final outcome. Yet one of the most helpful strategies I’ve found is to give full, uncensored transparency about the work we are doing. The decision making, the frameworks we use to make these decisions, how we test, how we gather insights and make sense of them. Every couple of weeks I would either write down or record a short 3–4 mins video for stakeholders. I explain the progress we’ve made over the weeks, how we’ve made decisions and what our next steps will be. I show the design work done and abandoned, informed by research, refined by designers, reviewed by engineers, finetuned by marketing, approved by other colleagues. I explain the current stage of the design and what kind of feedback we would love to receive. I don’t really invite early feedback on the visual appearance or flows, but I actively invite agreement on the general direction of the project — for that stakeholders. I ask if there is anything that is quite important for them, but that we might have overlooked in the process. It’s much more difficult to argue against real data and a real established process that has led to positive outcomes over the years. In fact, stakeholders rarely know how we work. They rarely know the implications and costs of last-minute changes. They rarely see the intricate dependencies of “minor adjustments” late in the process. Explain how your work ties in with their goals. Focus on the problem you are trying to solve and the value it delivers for them — not the solution you are suggesting. Support your stakeholders, and you might be surprised how quickly you might get the support that you need. Useful resources: The Delicate Art of Interviewing Stakeholders, by Dan Brown 🤎 https://lnkd.in/dW5Wb8CK Good Questions For Stakeholders, by Lisa Nguyen, Cori Widen https://lnkd.in/eNtM5bUU UX Research to Win Over Stubborn Stakeholders, by Lizzy Burnam 🐞 https://lnkd.in/eW3Yyg5k [continues below ↓] #ux #design

Product managers & designers working with AI face a unique challenge: designing a delightful product experience that cannot fully be predicted. Traditionally, product development followed a linear path. A PM defines the problem, a designer draws the solution, and the software teams code the product. The outcome was largely predictable, and the user experience was consistent. However, with AI, the rules have changed. Non-deterministic ML models introduce uncertainty & chaotic behavior. The same question asked four times produces different outputs. Asking the same question in different ways - even just an extra space in the question - elicits different results. How does one design a product experience in the fog of AI? The answer lies in embracing the unpredictable nature of AI and adapting your design approach. Here are a few strategies to consider: 1. Fast feedback loops : Great machine learning products elicit user feedback passively. Just click on the first result of a Google search and come back to the second one. That’s a great signal for Google to know that the first result is not optimal - without tying a word. 2. Evaluation : before products launch, it’s critical to run the machine learning systems through a battery of tests to understand in the most likely use cases, how the LLM will respond. 3. Over-measurement : It’s unclear what will matter in product experiences today, so measuring as much as possible in the user experience, whether it’s session times, conversation topic analysis, sentiment scores, or other numbers. 4. Couple with deterministic systems : Some startups are using large language models to suggest ideas that are evaluated with deterministic or classic machine learning systems. This design pattern can quash some of the chaotic and non-deterministic nature of LLMs. 5. Smaller models : smaller models that are tuned or optimized for use cases will produce narrower output, controlling the experience. The goal is not to eliminate unpredictability altogether but to design a product that can adapt and learn alongside its users. Just as much as the technology has changed products, our design processes must evolve as well.

Getting the right feedback will transform your job as a PM. More scalability, better user engagement, and growth. But most PMs don’t know how to do it right. Here’s the Feedback Engine I’ve used to ship highly engaging products at unicorns & large organizations: — Right feedback can literally transform your product and company. At Apollo, we launched a contact enrichment feature. Feedback showed users loved its accuracy, but... They needed bulk processing. We shipped it and had a 40% increase in user engagement. Here’s how to get it right: — 𝗦𝘁𝗮𝗴𝗲 𝟭: 𝗖𝗼𝗹𝗹𝗲𝗰𝘁 𝗙𝗲𝗲𝗱𝗯𝗮𝗰𝗸 Most PMs get this wrong. They collect feedback randomly with no system or strategy. But remember: your output is only as good as your input. And if your input is messy, it will only lead you astray. Here’s how to collect feedback strategically: → Diversify your sources: customer interviews, support tickets, sales calls, social media & community forums, etc. → Be systematic: track feedback across channels consistently. → Close the loop: confirm your understanding with users to avoid misinterpretation. — 𝗦𝘁𝗮𝗴𝗲 𝟮: 𝗔𝗻𝗮𝗹𝘆𝘇𝗲 𝗜𝗻𝘀𝗶𝗴𝗵𝘁𝘀 Analyzing feedback is like building the foundation of a skyscraper. If it’s shaky, your decisions will crumble. So don’t rush through it. Dive deep to identify patterns that will guide your actions in the right direction. Here’s how: Aggregate feedback → pull data from all sources into one place. Spot themes → look for recurring pain points, feature requests, or frustrations. Quantify impact → how often does an issue occur? Map risks → classify issues by severity and potential business impact. — 𝗦𝘁𝗮𝗴𝗲 𝟯: 𝗔𝗰𝘁 𝗼𝗻 𝗖𝗵𝗮𝗻𝗴𝗲𝘀 Now comes the exciting part: turning insights into action. Execution here can make or break everything. Do it right, and you’ll ship features users love. Mess it up, and you’ll waste time, effort, and resources. Here’s how to execute effectively: Prioritize ruthlessly → focus on high-impact, low-effort changes first. Assign ownership → make sure every action has a responsible owner. Set validation loops → build mechanisms to test and validate changes. Stay agile → be ready to pivot if feedback reveals new priorities. — 𝗦𝘁𝗮𝗴𝗲 𝟰: 𝗠𝗲𝗮𝘀𝘂𝗿𝗲 𝗜𝗺𝗽𝗮𝗰𝘁 What can’t be measured, can’t be improved. If your metrics don’t move, something went wrong. Either the feedback was flawed, or your solution didn’t land. Here’s how to measure: → Set KPIs for success, like user engagement, adoption rates, or risk reduction. → Track metrics post-launch to catch issues early. → Iterate quickly and keep on improving on feedback. — In a nutshell... It creates a cycle that drives growth and reduces risk: → Collect feedback strategically. → Analyze it deeply for actionable insights. → Act on it with precision. → Measure its impact and iterate. — P.S. How do you collect and implement feedback?

This mistake showed me: Nobody is better at shaping your product than your users! I used to think I knew exactly what our users needed. Turns out - basically, everything we built without user input was practically useless. Because we made the mistake everyone tells you not to make: "We fell in love with our solution too fast." 🥲 Until we started listening to our users. ⏩ Since then, I've spent up to eight hours a week talking to our users. It's not always easy, especially for someone like me who's not super extroverted. But these insights have helped us to: - Identify problems we would have never realized - keeping us ahead of all the bugs. - Prioritize our backlog - we could identify which improvements are most important. - Learning about our users' real pain points - enabling us to create a solution that really resonates. Which - in the long run - helps us to increase user satisfaction and user retention. For me, this made really clear: That building our product with our users and having 200+ people, I can ask directly for feedback, is the strongest asset we have at Scripe. How do you incorporate user feedback into your product development? #productbuilding #personalbranding #saas

Design decisions benefit more from behavioral user experience metrics. Involving your audience in the design process gives you real-time feedback on key aspects of their experience. Tools like Helio can help you capture valuable insights that improve your business KPIs, guided by user experience metrics. Using usability tests and surveys lets you quickly gather qualitative and quantitative user feedback. Behavioral data collected early in the design process helps you understand a design's success. Emotional indicators are usually trailing, as confusion or lack of clarity can lead to drops in sentiment and feelings. Here’s the user feedback you can collect to help refine your design decisions with stakeholders: Usability → Makes sure users can easily and quickly use the product to do what they want. Comprehension → Ensures users understand the product, how it works, and what it can do for them. Engagement → Tracks how often and how long users interact with the product, showing their interest and involvement. Desirability → Checks how attractive and appealing the product is to users, affecting their initial and ongoing interest. Viability → This examines whether the design is practical, sustainable, and aligned with business goals for long-term success. Completion → Measures how often users successfully finish tasks or reach goals, showing how effective the product is. Sentiment → Collects overall feelings and attitudes about the product to understand user satisfaction and loyalty. Feeling → Describes users' emotions when using the product, which can affect their overall experience and willingness to stick around. Response Time → Measures how quickly users responds, affecting user satisfaction and perceived performance. Reaction → Captures users' immediate emotional responses, providing quick insights into their first impressions and perceptions. Considering user experience in each design decision offers many benefits: It makes decisions clearer for stakeholders, speeds up decision-making, quickly identifies user pain points, and establishes a baseline for ongoing improvement. We use these metrics to help us improve business results using iterative design and continuous research. What are your thoughts? #productdesign #productdiscovery #userresearch #uxresearch

In a CULTURE of continuous feedback, people aren’t just "allowed" to give feedback; they’re actively encouraged to. It's where feedback isn’t reserved for formal reviews or the occasional meeting; it’s a natural part of daily work. A true CULTURE of continuous feedback means that: ✳️ People share ideas freely, knowing their thoughts are valued. ✳️ Teams regularly check in to discuss what’s going well and where things might need adjustment. ✳️ Leaders and managers seek feedback as much as they give it, showing that everyone’s input matters. ✳️ Constructive criticism is welcomed, and people see it as an opportunity to make things better, not as a judgment on them. If this all sounds very different to your existing culture- here's a few things you can try: ✔️ Set up Regular Check-Ins (Daily huddles, 1:1 coaching sessions and weekly meetings provide the necessary space for people to share their ideas, address challenges, and offer suggestions for improvement. ✔️ Create Feedback Channels: While direct feedback is a sign of a healthy feedback culture, there will always be people who don't like to speak up about how they feel so give people multiple ways to share feedback e.g. through suggestion boxes (physical or digital) or anonymous surveys. ✔️ Lead by Example: Simple- Ask for feedback on your own performance or decisions. If you struggle with this, you need a coach!! ✔️ Encourage Real-Time Feedback: Encourage people to give feedback in the moment rather than waiting for formal reviews or structured meetings. If someone spots an improvement opportunity during a task, they should feel free to speak up right then. ✔️ Recognize and Act on Feedback: Feedback culture only works if people see that their input leads to real change. Yesterday, we talked about recognizing the real experts—the people who do the work. In a feedback culture, this means actively listening to those insights and implementing changes based on what people who carry out the process are seeing and experiencing. They know better than anyone how things really work and where the bottlenecks lie. 💡 This culture isn't built overnight but it's entirely possible to build over time, once leaders are open to their own development and willing to make changes in their own behaviours first! #feedback #feedbackculture #leadership #continuousimprovement #lean #leanmanagement

Stakeholder Satisfaction: If You’re Not Measuring It, You’re Guessing __________________________________________________________________________________ Are you 100% confident that your stakeholders are happy? If you're not keeping a constant eye on their satisfaction levels, you are shooting in the dark. And let's be honest, that's not gonna end well, is it? Managing stakeholders isn't just a numbers game. It's about making sure every person at the table feels seen, heard, and in sync. If they don’t align, you can go all out and still find yourself with a disappointing outcome. The Big Misstep Most Managers Make 👉 They Focus on Outputs, Not Outcomes: Completing tasks is enough. Think again, is it ? If stakeholders aren’t satisfied with how you deliver, you’re losing their trust. 👉 They Don’t Ask the Hard Questions: Managers often dread feedback as it may uncover uncomfortable realities. However, the truth doesn’t disappear by ignoring it. 👉 They Measure Satisfaction by Silence: No complaints? You should worry. Silence often signals disengagement—not approval. Simple Methods to Measure Stakeholder Satisfaction ✅ Pulse Surveys: Use concise, focused surveys to collect valuable insights. Ask questions like: “How satisfied are you with the clarity of my communication?” “Am I meeting your expectations on deliverables?” ✅ One-on-One Check-Ins: Don't shy away from those heart-to-hearts with your main stakeholders. Just throwing out a, "Hey, where can I step up my game?" is a sure shot step to some good strategic conversation. ✅ Stakeholder Scorecards: Have a scoring system to evaluate the quality of relationships using criteria such as trust, responsiveness, and alignment with objectives. ✅ Analyze Behaviors, Not Just Words: Read the room. Are stakeholders proactively engaging with you, or do they seem distant and unresponsive? ✅ Feedback Loops: Clearly demonstrate that feedback results in change. When stakeholders notice that you are implementing changes basis their feedback, they are more engaged. As an executive coach, I coach managers that stakeholder satisfaction isn’t a one-time achievement—it’s a dynamic process. Measuring it consistently allows you to adapt, align, and lead with impact. Stakeholders play a huge part in your corporate success. The Bottom Line If you're not assessing stakeholder satisfaction, you're risking important relationships. Take charge, gather the necessary data, and ensure that every interaction is meaningful.

Your feedback process should act as a funnel, catching data from all the various sources and bringing it into a centralized location. As you get feedback from various sources, it’s helpful to be consistent in what you collect. Capturing data in a handful of key areas is particularly useful, including: >Touchpoint. What was the touchpoint, or where was the customer in their journey? For example, this could be after a repair, or an interaction with customer service. >Objective. What was the customer’s objective? For example, they wanted to get their cable working again. >Experience. What was the actual experience? The cable got repaired but it happened outside the promised window of time. >Emotional impact. What was the emotional impact of this experience? The range you establish could be very satisfied to very unsatisfied, on a scale. I’ve seen alternatives such as very happy to very frustrated. What words best capture emotion in your setting? These factors give you a solid foundation for comparing both structured and unstructured feedback. UL, a global company that provides product testing and certification, made a push to more completely capture the on-the-fly feedback their employees were hearing. They created a simple feedback form inside their CRM system. The link can be accessed quickly by any employee, anytime. For example, they can easily pull up the form from their phone and enter the customer’s feedback. Nate Brown, who spearheaded the effort, said at the time, “This is a complete game-changer in how UL understands customers.” Find more examples here: https://lnkd.in/e-t5Zs2b #customerfeedback #customerexperience #customerservice

Stakeholders feedback = Ready-Made Solutions? We built it, and they still weren't happy... but are they wrong? Early in my career, I used to put a lot of weight on stakeholder feedback. They requested a feature? Built it.  They disliked something? Changed it. Here's what I have learned: instead of focusing on those individual solutions, listen for the patterns hidden within the feedback. Sometimes, what stakeholders say they want isn't the whole story and the solutions offered are just symptoms of an underlying problem. In a recent project, stakeholders kept asking for a specific reporting feature.  At first, I was ready to jump in and build it. But then, I decided to pause and reflect. What problems were they trying to solve with this report? Turns out, everyone felt a disconnect from the KPIs. The report was just a symptom. The real issue was a lack of understanding and alignment on what success looked like for the product. By identifying this “pattern” (everyone wanting better visibility into KPIs), we were able to brainstorm a more strategic solution – a revamped dashboard with clear metrics everyone could access. Stakeholder feedback is gold, but it's not always a blueprint. Use it to identify recurring themes and underlying issues. This will lead to more impactful solutions that address the root cause, not just surface-level problems. What are your experiences with stakeholder feedback? 

🔄 Agile Leaders: Want Faster Feedback? Start Here. PMI-ACP Mindset Domain | Task 6: Shorten Feedback Loops isn't just about speed—it's about learning fast, reducing waste, and maximizing value in the shortest possible time. Here’s how we do it ⬇️ 💬 1. Include Stakeholders from Day One Agile thrives on early and continuous collaboration. Involve stakeholders early—not just at release time. Why? ✔️ You reduce rework by getting early validation ✔️ You build trust and shared ownership ✔️ You co-create solutions rather than guess requirements Tip: Design Thinking workshops are a great way to start with stakeholders at the center! ⏱️ 2. Maximize Value in a Timebox We don’t just “deliver faster.” We focus on what brings the most value, right now. That means: ◻️ Prioritizing the riskiest assumptions ◻️ Building just enough to learn ◻️ Validating with real users Approaches like Lean Startup and MVP thinking help us experiment without burning cycles on "what ifs." 🧠 3. Use Tools to Shorten the Feedback Loop Your goal? Learning > Planning Use: 🔹 Design Thinking – To empathize, define, and ideate with users 🔹 Lean Startup – To build-measure-learn fast 🔹 Agile Engineering Practices – Like pair programming and TDD to catch issues early Don’t forget the power of experiments: Run them for a sprint or two, track results on an Experiments Board, and iterate. 🌟 Agile Mindset in Action Short feedback loops = Psychological safety + Stakeholder trust + Team learning And that’s where value lives. 👀 Check the attached infographic to visualize this concept better. How are you shortening feedback loops in your team? Let’s exchange ideas in the comments 💬 #PMIACP #AgileLeadership #LeanStartup #DesignThinking #ShortenFeedbackLoop #AgileMindset #iZenBridge