As designers, we like to think of ourselves as makers. When we’re working on large, wicked problems, the challenge is that “making” is no longer a solo endeavor; it’s something that requires a lot of people and functionality to make happen. This can leave designers feeling like we’ve had to compromise our standards to appease business or development stakeholders. It also inadvertently creates an us-versus-them mentality that actually makes it less likely that we’ll be successful in moving forward our vision of what’s possible. So what does this mean for us? Simply understanding what your product’s users are dealing with isn’t enough. To make truly great products, you need to understand how people, organizations, systems and content play together. In this presentation, we’ll focus on some ways to help understand the organizational context you’re working within, and to adjust your approach to increase your success within those organizations.

1. Increase your
design influence
by adapting your voice to your
org’s decision-making style
Dani Nordin
Director UX, athenahealth

2. Who is
this bish?
Dani Nordin
Director of UX, Services & Tasks at athenahealth
Part-time Lecturer, Northeastern University CPS
Author, Drupal for Designers (2012, O’Reilly),
Designing with Empathy (2015, O’Reilly)
Mama, knitter, troublemaker.
I drink coffee and I know things.
danigrrl
daninordin.com
linkedin.com/in/daninordin

3. How did all
these people
end up
here?
Credit: https://x96.com/life/you-can-invite-a-goat-or-llama-to-your-next-zoom-meeting/

4. Why aren’t
you using the
brand
guidelines?
Source: NBC

5. How many
participants
were in this
study?

6. We don’t
have time for
research.
Source: Netflix

7. They just
don’t get it.
We need to
educate them.
Here’s a presentation
on the value of design.

8. They just
don’t get it.
We need to
educate them.
Here’s a presentation
on the value of design.

11. Empathy isn’t just for the people who
use our products. For design to succeed
in organizations, we need to have
empathy for those organizations, and
for our colleagues within them.

12. you and I
Let’s talk about

13. Signature Voice
The goal of an Explain story is to help
the audience understand the current
state of things and why it is so. This
provides a frame of reference for future
conversations and aids decisionmaking.
Driving Voice
“I’m right about this;
they just haven’t figured
it out yet.”
Voice for Self
Voice for Others
Signature Voice
“I can see the future, and
I’m going to enlist others
to help us get there.”
Passive Voice
“I can’t change anything
here; might as well
check out.”
Supportive Voice
“My boss and the team
are depending on me to
figure this out.”

14. The challenge all individuals face is to
adaptively use both voices: to speak for
yourself, your team, and your function and
to know when to do the same for others,
their teams, and their functions.
Amy Jen Su & Muriel Maignan Wilkins

15. • What is the reality of the situation?
• Where is the other person/group
coming from?
Assumptions
Communication Strategies
Energy
• How should we communicate progress?
• How do we handle conflict effectively?
• What deliverables will be most impactful?
• How am I showing up? Tired, upset,
judgmental, hyper?
• What’s my body language?
Check your
Adapt your
Modulate your

16. the organization
Let’s talk about

17. Competing Values
Organizational culture develops across
two axes: flexibility vs. stability and
internal vs. external focus.
Understanding this tension can help you
adapt your approach.
Clan Adhocracy
Hierarchy Market
Collaborate Create
CompeteControl
Internal External
Stability
Flexibility

18. Clan Flexible, Internally focused
PainsGains
Collegial, respectful energy
Really want the best for
everyone involved
People may avoid conflict and
want to be involved in everything
Decisions feel like they
take forever
Org type Characteristics
What you’ll HEAR:
“Why didn’t you tell me we were
meeting about this?”
“Has Marketing looked at this?”
What you’ll SEE:
Meetings that grow from 5 to 15
people and never seem to end
Design_final_final_noforrealthistime.pdf
collaboration & consensus
Goals

19. Adhocracy flexible, externally focused
PainsGains
Can be fun to work in
People are passionate
about the work
May lose sight of the big picture in
pursuit of short-term gain
Qualitative research can be devalued
unless it’s super, super fast
Org type Characteristics
What you’ll HEAR:
“Let’s not let ‘process’ get
in the way of progress.”
“We don’t have time for user
research. Let’s just ask Sales.”
What you’ll SEE:
Lots of chaos and churn
Whiplash around deliverables
move fast & innovate
Goals

20. Hierarchy stable, internally focused
PainsGains
When seen as an expert,
you get a lot of leeway
Healthy budgets
Lack of executive buy-in
can kill projects
Layers of bureaucracy and
silos to break down
Org type Characteristics
What you’ll HEAR:
“The [CEO/CPO/VP] has
already bought into this, so
it’s going to happen.”
“Are you using the brand colors?”
What you’ll SEE:
Silos and internal politics
Expectation for highly polished,
“complete” deliverables
sustain success & obtain growth
Goals

21. Market stable, externally focused
PainsGains
Focus on shipping
customer-facing work
High potential to move up
if you can speak the lingo
Everything needs data
and more data
Qualitative data is
often overruled by metrics
Org type Characteristics
What you’ll HEAR:
“Have we A/B tested this?”
“How many people did you talk to?”
“How will this impact time to market?”
What you’ll SEE:
Numbers. Lots of numbers.
Concerned with moving fast
& beating competition to market
get ahead of the competition
Goals

22. So startups are adhocracies and
enterprises are hierarchies, right?
Not. So. Fast.

23. Values can shift
In many places, the values of an
organization can shift depending on
which group you’re talking to in the
business. Adapting your approach for
each group is key to success.
Training Engineering
Marketing
Clan Adhocracy
Hierarchy + Market

24. Say and DO?
So what do we

25. 1
Bring Clans
along for
the ride

26. Bring just
enough process
to Adhocracies
2

27. Cultivate
executive
sponsors in
Hierarchies
3

28. Help Markets
see the “why”
behind the
“what”
4

29. Key Takeaways
v Empathy isn’t just for users, it’s for our organizations and
stakeholders as well
v Our assumptions, communication strategies, and physical
presence all help us show up in Signature Voice
v Understanding how decisions are made in the organization
is key to helping us craft our approach to the work

30. Before you “tell it like it is,”
make sure you’ve confirmed
that’s actually how it is.
Dani Nordin

31. Thank you!
Dani Nordin
Director UX, athenahealth

32. Resources
Own the Room
Amy Jen Su
Muriel Maignan Wilkins
• Influencing Stakeholders using a
”Show, Don’t Tell” approach: Jared
Spool (requires membership)
• Designing How We Design: Kim
Goodwin
• Increase your design influence by
understanding your organization’s
decision-making style: Dani Nordin
Diagnosing and Changing
Organizational Culture based on the
Competing Values Framework
Kim S. Cameron
Robert E. Quinn