Disagree and commitment

Cat Lo -

Thank you for your patience while I took a 1-month hiatus from posting weekly. It wasn't planned at all, the last 4 weeks have been an overload and I didn't have the mental/physical capacity to write on my downtime.

Highlights:

  1. Got Club Suite seats for Taylor Swift's Eras Tour in Philly. The concert felt like it was never going to end, props to Taylor singing live for such a long duration of the show.
  2. Bought the new Zelda Tears of the Kingdom. Took out my old amiibos from BoTW to get those free prizes. :D
  3. Met up with long-time friends that I haven't seen in years in Seattle, my past Amazon manager, and Waikiki.
  4. Saw my dad for the first time since pre-pandemic. Took my mom to Hawaii, her first vacation with me ever in a lifetime. 30 years.
  5. My 2nd year garden roses blossomed in time.

Lowlights:

  1. I overworked, which resulted in a neck/shoulder strain from being in the typing position for too long. I can't put my hands behind my back and operate with a limited range of motion. I will be decreasing my weekly post to bi-weekly, so I can recover from my "bad-typing-posture injury." #WhenYouAreOldProblems. I worked 12-hour days for two weeks straight as the lead organizer for our in-person UX Summit in Seattle. 15 minutes before the start of the 280 ppl event, we canceled it due to an attendee testing positive for COVID. (to protect everybody). As a designer, we are always prepared for last-minute rocket explosions, but spending so much heart into that got me disappointed. I didn't have time to grieve for the time lost. It heavily impacted me because I ended up staying in a hotel since I was flying back to San Jose, CA to see my parents plus going to Hawaii. Didn't know if I had to cancel it.
  2. Taking my mother on the first-ever vacation of her life. Too much to unpack there.
  3. My teammate had a "meltdown-explosive-burn-bridge-exit" from our team when I came back, where I shouldered the work. The posts are famous on Blind. Needless to say, my overworking effort is an understatement.

This week's topic is a question submitted by a loyal reader, Aaron.

"What is effective communication between cross-functional stakeholders as a designer that people don’t know about or consider? Knowing when it’s time to disagree and commit?"
jk...jk.....

This is a tough topic for me to answer because I don't consider myself good at this, but I'll answer the best I can. It's a big topic to unpack, with multiple angles and a mix of facts and feelings. I can break this down into 6 parts.

1. Do you have a good understanding of the issue?

Gathered all the information to be well-informed, and knowledgeable about the subject to have a meaningful and constructive conversation. Listen to understand, not to reply, which will make it easier to find a solution that works for everyone. Ask open-ended questions to encourage the other party to reveal their needs and desires. A good understanding means that you can compare A vs B, where you fully understand the data and context.