Understanding Conflicts, Collaboration and Creativity in design

Picture yourself having completed a competitor’s analysis for a feature release. It lists functions based on competitors’ features and a heuristic score. This gives you a fair idea on how to solve this problem based on the trend.

Now, you feel excited and start discussing this with stakeholders. Only to realize that they have different viewpoints. You know what happens next!

Either you engage in a loop of conversations to make them aware of trends or oblige to their attempted decisions. In order to reach on a compromise for a closure. Which raises a feeling of lost approach to problem solving. Due to stakeholders' familiar opinion which they’ve framed while drafting the requirement.

Into a Groan Zone

As per Sam Kaner’s Diamond participation model. This feeling is called as ‘Groan Zone’, which is a space between diverging ideas and converging agreement. Applicable in both the problem and solution spaces in any stage of the Double Diamond process.

It occurs because of diverse perspectives within the team and among stakeholders. Because their method involves deriving and prioritizing issues based on constraints and experiences. Which involve budget, technical limitations, and time constraints.

Also, many times, a designer’s proposal may raise intricate issues that demand for them to interact through multiple levels of information with other diverse stakeholders. Which may go against their limitation. Which develops a familiar opinion or reach early conclusion before they discover a solution.

Navigating out of the Groan Zone

Now, pressed by time and facing a Groan Zone, you may be inclined to close matters with stakeholders. Going ahead with any solution that makes the early closure easier. Without deep diving into a problem-solving approach.

Later, as the work progresses, you observe this as a recurring pattern. They prioritize assumed solutions over understood problems. By leaving you with a thought,

“How do I manage this unease? I can help them discover better opportunities, or a deeper understanding of our current situation and its reasons.

As a design professional, you understand that problem solving often requires twisting, combining, or letting go of elements. You also know this could lead to conflicts because people hold on to their own perspectives. Moreover, you know these conflicts can worsen over the course of a project, impacting the overall quality of the product delivery.

So, what is a way out?

The creation of shared context and the building of relationships are the simplest methods to navigate out. For aiding with this, here are four simple methods you can test out.

Listen to Understand

Easiest way is to encourage a dialogue over debate. Building up conversations will help you and stakeholders to explain each other’s perspectives, building trust.

For example, you can arrange a separate meeting to discuss the competitor’s analysis of the feature. Which helps stakeholders to understand the value proposition the solution should deliver.

Use a structured approach

Though expression is a powerful tool, but it lacks natural record keeping and participation. So, the second way out is to have structured activities for the problems you’ve identified or solutions you’ve found.

This will help you guide the stakeholders with a goal in mind, providing a clear prioritization technique. Structured activities will help you with highlighting constraints and note down of their thoughts around it. These activities can vary from a simple card sorting to the intricate task of polarity management.

For example, you can conduct a card sorting activity with stakeholders, which includes their desired functions and competitors’ function. To be grouped into innovative feature.

Use tools to converge

Another way is to encourage different perspectives is by creating diagrams or visual models. These can help identify gaps, assumptions, or biases in the project lifecycle. Using a mix of structured activities and tools can drive creativity in project work. While making it easy to keep records.

For example, you can conduct Moscow analysis of the feature. That helps prioritizing of desired and competitors’ function for an innovative solution.

Practice Design Thinking

As you work, remember that the Groan Zone is unavoidable. Which creates a drift that may occur throughout the project lifecycle. Above that, you may work with changing resources across different stakeholders. Leading to communication challenges and differing opinion at any stage of the project.

You can avoid such pitfalls by practicing design thinking. As it helps with identifying the challenges worth solving and develop ideas in brainstorming sessions. It also aids in enhancing your understanding of users.

For example, you can define the characteristic of a feature that will make users use the product. Asking relevant questions such as what you want users to feel? User to do? Etc.

You can achieve this by improvising on the current features or envisioning new ones adopting to human centered design. Which keeps stakeholder and others aligned to same foundation.

Besides these four methods, there are loads of other ways to break free from the Groan zone.

Conclusion

The Groan Zone is an essential phase in product development. It shows that you are tackling problems and engaging in critical thinking. By recognizing and overcoming its challenges, you can gain a comprehensive perspective that inspires new opportunities.

By having awareness and effective process tools, you can perceive the Groan Zone as a crucial growth zone.