Tips for Aligning Stakeholders and Testing Assumptions

2 — Solving Goal & Priority Misalignment with Is/Is Not + Perspective Circle.  SOLVING THINGS with SYSTEMS THINKING (STwST) — a series of mini, real-world applications of DSRP. When a team says, “We’re working hard but not pulling in the same direction,” it’s usually not a motivation problem. And it’s rarely a communication problem. It’s a distinction + perspective problem. Different people are carrying different mental pictures of what the goal is and is not, and different perspectives on what actually counts as a priority. So even when everyone uses the same words, they’re not aiming at the same thing. They might be reading the same page but interpreting it differently. Two simple thinking moves fix this. The first is an Is / Is Not list. Take the goal and the priorities and make them explicit: what this goal is, what it is not; what matters now, and what does not. This forces clarity where assumptions usually hide. The second is a Perspective Circle. You don’t need everyone to think the same way—but you do need everyone looking at the same picture. Different roles, levels, and functions can keep their own viewpoints, as long as they’re all anchored to the same shared view. Then keep that shared model on the table. Revisit it at the start of meetings. Use it when tradeoffs show up. Let people argue with it, stress-test it, and refine it. Don’t laminate it. Put it to work. Alignment doesn’t come from hearing the right words once. It comes from people rebuilding their own internal picture until it matches the shared one. When that happens, language cleans up, decisions get faster, resources line up, and the friction fades—because action always follows the mental model. If you listen carefully, misalignment announces itself in sentences that shouldn’t exist if the goal were truly shared. Those sentences are the signal. #STwST #SystemsThinking #CabreraLabPodcast #SystemsThinkingStandardsInstitute

Ever presented rock-solid research only to hear "Thanks, but we're going with our gut on this one"? Securing stakeholder buy-in is rarely about the quality of your work. It's about something deeper. When you’re dealing with a research trust gap, ask yourself 5 questions. 👽 Are you speaking alien to earthlings? When you say jargon like "double diamond" or "information architecture," your stakeholders hear gibberish. Business leaders didn't learn UX in business school—and most never will. Translate everything into business outcomes they understand. Revenue growth. Customer retention. Cost savings. Competitive advantage.  Speak their native language, not yours. ⏰ What keeps them awake at 3am? Behind every skeptical question is a personal fear. That product manager who keeps shooting down your findings? They're terrified of missing their KPIs and losing their bonus. Have honest conversations about what they're personally on the hook for delivering. Then show how your research helps them achieve exactly that. ❓Are you treating assumptions as facts? You might think you know what questions matter to your stakeholders. You're probably wrong. Before starting research, explicitly ask: "What questions do you need answered to make this decision?" Then design your research to answer exactly those questions. ⚒️ Are you dying on the hill of methodological purity? Sometimes you have 8 hours for research instead of 8 weeks. Being dogmatic about "proper" research methods doesn’t always pay off. Focus on outcomes over process. If quick-and-dirty gets reliable insights that drive decisions, embrace it. 🍽️ Are you force-feeding them a seven-course meal when they wanted a snack? Executives need 30-second summaries. Product managers need actionable findings. Junior team members need hands-on learning. Tailor your approach to each one. You can also use my stakeholder persona mapping template here: https://bit.ly/43R7wom What’s the best advice you’ve heard about dealing with skeptical stakeholders?

What to do when your team is making a stupid decision. This thought, by itself, is a signal for you to slow down and seek better understanding. Thinking that people around you are stupid is a terrible way to enter into a discussion. First, you need to pause your own reaction. Ask open questions, restate what you hear, and test the assumptions beneath the current plan. This approach shows respect for other's thinking, surfaces gaps that might not be obvious, and softens any perception that you are challenging for the sake of challenging. As you listen, collect the facts, metrics, or customer feedback that best illustrate why a change might help everyone reach the shared goal faster. Once you have a clear grasp of both sides, turn your insight into a concise proposal that shows you have understood the situation fully. Anchor your message to outcomes the team already values (time to market, quality, customer delight, cost). Use evidence, small experiments, or quick prototypes to show how the alternative path removes risk or adds benefit. Invite teammates to create the solution so that the "new idea" is a collective win rather than a personal mission. Keep your tone calm and collaborative throughout the process. Choose settings that encourage thoughtful dialogue, such as one‑on‑one conversations or a short working session with the most relevant partners. Use “I” statements to own your personal perspective, and ask for reactions to keep the discussion balanced. If emotion rises, pause, summarize common ground, and suggest a brief break before returning to decisions. Finally, watch your own stress signals. Use preparation, breathing, or a short walk to stay steady. Remind yourself that disagreement is normal in creative work and that long‑term relationships matter more than winning a single debate. When the team adopts an improved approach, share credit freely; if they decide to stay on the original path, document your input, express confidence in the group, and stay engaged. Your composure and constructive focus will strengthen trust and increase the chances that your next suggestion lands even more smoothly.

🔍 𝐁𝐮𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐬𝐬 𝐀𝐧𝐚𝐥𝐲𝐬𝐭𝐬: 𝐍𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐀𝐬𝐬𝐮𝐦𝐞—𝐀𝐥𝐰𝐚𝐲𝐬 𝐂𝐥𝐚𝐫𝐢𝐟𝐲! 🧩 One golden rule I’ve learned in my BA journey: 👉 “When in doubt, ask. When not in doubt, still ask.” As Business Analysts, we often find ourselves working with stakeholders across functions, each speaking their own "language". It's tempting to assume what they mean, especially when timelines are tight. But assumptions are where misalignment begins. Let’s look at real-world examples: ✅ 𝐒𝐜𝐞𝐧𝐚𝐫𝐢𝐨 𝟏: 𝐓𝐞𝐫𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐨𝐥𝐨𝐠𝐲 𝐂𝐨𝐧𝐟𝐮𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧 👤 Stakeholder says: “We need real-time reporting.” 🧠 Assumption: Live dashboards updated every second. 🗣 Clarified Question: “When you say real-time, do you mean live updates with no delay, or reports updated every 15 minutes?” ✅ Outcome: Turns out, “real-time” for them meant hourly refresh. We saved effort and cost by not overengineering the solution. ✅ 𝐒𝐜𝐞𝐧𝐚𝐫𝐢𝐨 𝟐: 𝐈𝐧𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐩𝐥𝐞𝐭𝐞 𝐑𝐞𝐪𝐮𝐢𝐫𝐞𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭 👤 Stakeholder says: “Add a new field for ‘Status’ in the order screen.” 🧠 Assumption: Just one field, drop-down with Open/Closed. 🗣 Clarified Questions: 👉 What status values should be available? 👉 Should status change manually or automatically? 👉 Who has permission to change it? ✅ Outcome: Discovered 6 status types, auto-update logic, and role-based access—all crucial for development! ✅ 𝐒𝐜𝐞𝐧𝐚𝐫𝐢𝐨 𝟑: 𝐓𝐞𝐜𝐡𝐧𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐥 𝐌𝐢𝐬𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 👤 Product Owner says: “Integrate with the CRM system.” 🧠 Assumption: Simple API pull. 🗣 Clarified Question: “What exactly needs to be integrated—customer records, communication logs, or something else?” ✅ Outcome: They only needed customer name and ID, not a full sync. Saved weeks of dev effort. 🧠 𝐊𝐞𝐲 𝐓𝐚𝐤𝐞𝐚𝐰𝐚𝐲𝐬: ✅ Clarifying questions reduce rework ✅ Assumptions erode trust with stakeholders ✅ It’s better to appear overly curious than to miss key details ✅ Clarity leads to shared understanding, which drives project success 📌 𝐏𝐫𝐨 𝐓𝐢𝐩 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐁𝐀𝐬: Always keep these go-to clarifying starters handy: “Just to confirm, when you say…” “Can you walk me through what that looks like today?” “What’s the business outcome you’re expecting here?” BA Helpline

Partnering with stakeholders is messy. It’s where design impact is either made…or quietly killed. In every customer conversation, I see the same thing: user needs get buried under a pile of business challenges. And honestly, it’s no surprise. Stakeholders often don’t have a clear picture of the needs of their users. Logistics, planning, budgeting, aligning, collaborating, and selling often overwhelm them and cloud the design problem. Here’s what usually shows up and how to reframe: 1. Competing priorities Everyone’s chasing the urgent → reframe the conversation around impact, not tasks 2. Lack of understanding The problem doesn’t look big enough → make it visible with user evidence and stories 3. Perceived complexity Feels impossible before anyone even tries → break it into smaller, solvable steps 4. Short-term focus “This quarter’s goals” beat long-term outcomes → link long-term wins to immediate gains 5. Limited resources No time, budget, or people → start scrappy, small tests build momentum 6. Skepticism Doubt creeps in → show quick signals that prove progress is possible 7. Conflict of interest Priorities collide, progress stalls → find shared goals and design around overlap 8. Data blind spots No evidence, no urgency → create the evidence: run a test, surface a metric 9. Resistance to change Old habits die hard → prototype the new way so it feels less risky 10. Overconfidence “We’ve already got this” → stress-test assumptions before they fail in the wild Each one of these slows teams down. Together? They can completely derail the impact design is supposed to have. But here’s the thing: I’ve seen design can tackle these barriers. The same empathy-driven tools we use for users work on business challenges too. Ultimately, stakeholders have more confidence in supporting the design work and pushing an agenda when they are invested in the problem. User needs and business goals click when design leaders stop waiting for perfect conditions and start treating business friction as another design problem. This is where I’ve seen the biggest wins in our work. Curious, what’s the hardest challenge you’ve run into with stakeholders lately? #productdesign #uxmetrics #productdiscovery #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.

#Data teams aren’t drive-thrus. Here are 6 tips to shift from data provider to trusted business partner: "One dashboard, AI-driven, with some extra Machine Learning!" Like they’re ordering fries. And they want it NOW. The problem? When you act like a data provider, you get treated like one. So how do you break the cycle? Try this: 1. Flip the script ↳ When they ask for data, ask for context. ↳ Say: "Happy to help. What decision will this support?" ↳ Moves the conversation from output (data) to outcome (impact). 2. Challenge vague requests ↳ "We need a sales dashboard." ↳ Ask: "What’s the goal of the dashboard?" ↳ Stakeholders often don’t know what they need. Help them figure it out. 3. Highlight opportunity cost ↳ Say: "We can add those KPIs, but that means more time spent sifting through data instead of making decisions." ↳ Help them see: more data ≠ better decisions. 4. Test assumptions first ↳ Before jumping in, ask: "What would success look like?" ↳ Prevents wasted effort on reports nobody actually uses. 5. Make stakeholders own the request ↳ Instead of saying yes immediately, ask: "What’s the best way to approach this together?" ↳ If they won’t invest time, it’s probably not urgent. 6. Show the trade-offs ↳ Say: "We can add those KPIs, but it will clutter the dashboard and make insights harder to find." ↳ Giving trade-offs makes them part of the decision. Stop being a data provider. Start being a decision partner. Agree? What's your approach? ♻️ Liked it? Repost to your network. 👉 Follow Gilbert Eijkelenboom for Data Storytelling tips.

How to run a 30-minute stakeholder alignment workshop that actually works Most PMs try to solve misalignment by adding more meetings. It never works. What does? A tight, 30-minute workshop that forces clarity, surfaces assumptions, and sets expectations. Simple. Structured. Clear. Here's the playbook: 👉 0-5 minutes = the "one sentence round" Person by person, ask "in 1 sentence, how do you define success for this project?" You're going to get wildly different answers. That's the point. The mismatches are your project landmines. Document the statements, wait to debate them. 👉 5-15 minutes = alignment mapping Say "let's group these into themes" Cluster into categories ex: customer impact, operational efficiency, etc. Then ask "which theme matters most for this project/phase?" This is where the clarity happens. Assumptions blow up and alignment begins. 👉 15-25 minutes = decision guardrails Translate the priorities and determine operating rules. Ex: Protect timeline over scope. Ex: Accept medium risk to hit milestone. Ex: No compromise on X, even if it adds time. These guardrails become your North Star which you can use later to defuse conflict, push back, and frame decisions. 👉 25-30 minutes = commitments & owner check Go around the room and ask "based on what we aligned on today, what commitment do you personally own?" Ownership shifts alignment from agreement to action. Document it. Send it out. Put it in your decision log. That's it. A 30-minute workshop that creates more clarity than 3 months of status meetings. Why does it work? It promotes shared direction, constraints, and expectations. Fast. Run this workshop and watch stakeholder conflict go down. 🤙

I’ve spent over 10 years working with stakeholders as a user researcher. Here’s what I’ve learned about making them happy 1. Make them successful Stakeholders don’t care about the number of studies you’ve run. They care about how your insights help them achieve their goals. Stop focusing on research as an output and start focusing on the outcomes stakeholders need. - Instead of saying, “Users struggled with navigation,” say, “Improving navigation could reduce drop-offs by 20%, adding $750K in revenue.” 2. Let them be the expert in their domain so you can be the expert in yours Your stakeholders know their products, metrics, and market better than anyone. Your job isn’t to challenge that expertise, it’s to elevate it. Ask questions to uncover their needs: - “What’s the biggest risk you’re facing right now?” - “What metrics are you trying to move this quarter?” Use their answers to tailor your research and position it as a tool to help them succeed. 3. Don’t just deliver insights, help them make decisions Insights are only valuable if they drive action. Make the path forward clear and impossible to ignore. For example: - Don’t say, “Users are frustrated with this feature.” - Say, “Users can’t find this feature, which is causing churn. Fixing the discoverability could improve retention by 15%.” Always connect the dots between findings and action. 4. Speak in outcomes, not research jargon Stakeholders need to understand how your research helps them solve problems. Instead of, “We conducted 10 usability tests on the onboarding flow,” say, “We found that 7 out of 10 users couldn’t complete onboarding, which is leading to trial drop-offs.” 5. Frame research as a strategic advantage, not a speed bump Stakeholders often see research as slowing things down. Show them it’s the opposite. For example: If a stakeholder says, “We don’t have time for research,” respond with: “Without research, we risk building the wrong solution, which could cost more time and money to fix later.” Show them how research saves resources and reduces risk in the long run. 6. Focus on clarity and action Dense reports full of data don’t drive action, but clear, concise recommendations do. Instead of a 20-page slide deck, provide a one-pager with: - The top 3 findings - Why they matter (tied to business goals) - The next steps Make it easy for stakeholders to act. 7. Be their ally, not just their researcher When stakeholders feel like you’re invested in their success, they’ll invest in you. - Proactively check in on their goals and challenges, even when you’re not running research for them. - Celebrate their wins and show how research contributed to their success. Stakeholder relationships are partnerships, not transactions. Want more actionable strategies to build stronger stakeholder relationships and make your research indispensable? Subscribe to my Substack for weekly insights: https://lnkd.in/eR5M2geZ