About 10 years ago, I was drawn into the UX field as a lost university student looking for a path forward. Having dropped out of a computer science program, I found UX to be the perfect blend of problem-solving and visual creativity. I was eager to build, design, and innovate — not knowing how much of design actually happens outside of Figma and Sketch.
As a junior designer, I focused on usability principles, iconography, and pixel-perfect interfaces. I refined my craft, ensuring my designs were both functional and visually compelling. But design school didn’t prepare me for the reality of product development — where design is only part of the puzzle. Collaboration, alignment, and negotiation are just as critical as the craft itself.
When I stepped into senior roles, my responsibilities expanded. I wasn’t just designing screens; I was leading discussions with product managers and engineers, driving strategic decisions, and balancing competing priorities. That’s when I realized that design isn’t just about the output — it’s about navigating complex conversations to bring the best ideas forward.
Misalignment is the root of most design struggles. If your team lacks a shared understanding of the problem or goal, decisions will become fragmented, execution will suffer, and design impact will diminish. Even the most user-friendly design won’t succeed if it’s not aligned with business objectives, user needs, or technical feasibility. In time, I realized that facilitation — more than technical expertise — became my most valuable asset:
Every team operates with different priorities. Product managers push for business outcomes. Engineers assess feasibility and scalability. Designers advocate for user experience. Without strong facilitation, discussions can spiral into endless debates, leading to delayed decisions, misaligned expectations, and mounting frustration.
I’ve sat in meetings where two stakeholders locked horns, each convinced their idea was the right path forward. With no one stepping in to mediate, the conversation circled endlessly, stalling progress and eroding momentum.
And that’s when it hit me — the more senior you become in your design career, the less it’s about execution and the more it’s about collaboration. Facilitation isn’t just about running meetings — it’s about managing tough conversations, balancing stakeholder priorities, and ensuring that fair business decisions are made.
Good facilitation brings clarity to the team. It ensures everyone is aligned on the problem, requirements, and execution plan. Essentially, designers must think like business people, negotiating with stakeholders to drive a successful outcome.
Cross-functional meetings will involve some level of debate. Stakeholders bring different perspectives, priorities, and opinions to the table and want to have their way. A healthy debate with open-minded people is good for a project, as a problem is looked at from multiple angles, which leads to better outcomes.
However, not every conversation will be puppies and rainbows.
Negotiation is a key business skill that designers might not think about developing early in their careers, but it becomes critical in later stages. Product teams, including designers, must have a business mindset — after all, our work ultimately contributes to business success. A lack of agreement can create friction in the process, leading to an ineffective conversation and potentially delaying production timelines. Delays can sometimes mean the difference between launching a product first to market and losing potential business to a competitor that executed quicker.
As a designer, it can be easy to focus on delivering our best designs without considering how our work affects the company we work for. Having a high-level understanding of where your work fits in with the company’s strategy is important to gauge the priority and urgency of a project.
Thinking from a business perspective can also help designers ask the right questions — not just about pixels but value. Questions like “How much effort is worth investing in this feature?”, “Is this the best use of time and resources?” or “What’s the expected outcome for this project?” can help mitigate risks associated with project delays or taking the wrong direction. Instead of focusing purely on design execution, think about how you can deliver the right outcomes with the most efficient level of effort. This approach ensures that decisions are made effectively and that all user, technical, and business needs are taken into account.
As designers, our skillset can be advantageous during projects with high uncertainty and risk. Using design thinking techniques has helped me align stakeholders by clarifying ambiguous problems.
For example, journey mapping can help teams understand logical user flows by outlining what the user is trying to achieve and identifying key touchpoints across phases of the journey. Once the user journey is mapped out, it’s easier to define functional requirements by translating pain points and jobs-to-be-done into user stories.
Another way that design thinking can reduce uncertainty is through ideation sessions. When teams are unsure of where to focus their efforts, exercises like Rose, Thorn, Bud, can help assess what’s working, what’s not working, and ideas to be explored. This can be used to evolve the product roadmap by identifying pain points and potential solutions to address them.
If your team is having problems with collaboration and alignment, these brainstorming activities can also be used to reveal core issues and ideas to resolve them.
Whether the focus is on product features or ways of working, design thinking techniques have been proven effective in getting everyone on the same page and paving the path forward.
As topics progress from high-level requirements into more detailed technical conversations, I’ve noticed that some stakeholders tend to dominate discussions while others remain silent.
While high engagement is valuable, it can create bias in decision-making if only a few voices are heard.
As a facilitator, I learned to actively call on quieter stakeholders to share their perspectives and comment on relevant topics. It can be easy for some to stay quiet and not voice an opinion or potential idea, especially when others are loud.
However, it’s important to ensure that everyone is included in the conversation, as any new idea or angle can have an impact on the course of a project. Not voicing concerns early on can lead to problems emerging later in the process when it’s too late to make necessary changes.
At the same time, more vocal stakeholders may get sidetracked and go off on a tangent. Conversations can easily drift into scope creep, where new ideas emerge that aren’t relevant to the project’s current iteration. When a topic arises that isn’t directly related to the meeting’s objective or might require a separate meeting for a longer, in-depth discussion, make sure to table those discussions for now and have the appropriate members schedule a follow-up meeting with the relevant stakeholders.
Recognizing and redirecting these conversations has been crucial for me in keeping projects on track.
Productive meetings need a clear structure and purpose. Otherwise, we would spend all day in meetings without any time to do the work. Start each conversation with a clear agenda or objective, such as a decision that must be made. This frames the meeting around the goal, which can help participants think of relevant questions or considerations to discuss.
Don’t forget to always timebox your meetings, especially if the topic involves multiple discussions or design thinking activities.
The facilitation skills I’ve developed from stakeholder meetings have translated into other areas of my work, including user research interviews and workshops. Knowing how to guide conversations, ask the right questions, and leverage design thinking enables me to help people understand complex problems while communicating their ideas, thoughts, and frustrations.
In user research and discovery sessions, I often probe into the user’s current workflow to understand where their pain points may be. They might mention something that sparks a question relating to another topic they talked about previously. Then, the string of questions continues to flow naturally as I try to connect the dots.
Client workshops can function similarly, as it may take a few probing questions to get folks to start speaking:
Some feedback I’ve received from workshop participants was how impactful it was for them to realize that other companies are experiencing or have experienced the same pain points that they are currently going through.
Being able to bridge the gap between people based on shared experiences can be powerful for everyone. Customers connect on ideas while your team makes it happen by running the workshop.
Whether you’re empathizing with customer pain points or brainstorming ideas for a new feature, facilitation is an invaluable skill that empowers designers to create better experiences — not just through design but through communication and collaboration.
Being a UX designer isn’t just about perfecting the craft. Although technical design expertise is important in leveling up your skills, it’s only one part of the skillset.
The role of a product designer often leans towards communication, collaboration, and being able to bring people together to drive outcomes. This less creative side wasn’t highlighted much when I was in design school, and it challenged me in developing my career as my focus had been solely on building a portfolio and mastering design tools.
But to succeed in this industry, you should never stop learning. Designers should develop the skill of leading conversations, as it can help position you as a leader within your organization.
Especially in organizations with low UX maturity, strong facilitation skills can elevate the role of all designers, as PM and engineering will start to recognize design as a partner and understand how design thinking can be used to bring clarity to complex problems. You’ll be able to bridge the gap between cross-functional stakeholders by aligning them on objectives, guiding discussions, and leading them toward making decisions.
The more you embrace the strategic side of the role, the more impact you will ultimately have on shaping the future of the products you work on and the teams you work with.
Here are the main insights you should take away from this piece:
Facilitation isn’t just about running meetings — it’s a critical skill that helps designers navigate complex discussions, align teams, and drive better decisions.
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