Misaligned assumptions = misaligned execs = dead personas.

Why it’s nearly impossible to ‘get on the same page’ — and why that matters.

Executives are misaligned and data won’t fix that.

Data driven persona efforts don’t often work because assumptions are more powerful than data, especially if the people who HAVE those assumptions are more powerful than the people who created the personas.

• Most design and dev processes treat assumptions as evil.

• Ignoring assumptions doesn’t get rid of them.

• Articulating assumptions is hard.

• Unarticulated assumptions are (almost by definition) misaligned from person to person.

Exec and stakeholder teams love to talk about ‘getting on the same page.’

How the hell do they get on the same page if all of them are walking around with misaligned, unarticulated assumptions?

The answer is: they don’t. It’s just too easy to walk around thinking that ‘of course we are on the same page about what we are building and why. It’s so fundamental. We don’t even have to talk about it.’ They THINK they are in lock step. They aren’t.

Want proof?

Ask a senior person (or two) to describe ‘our most important users and what they want and need from our product’ or ‘what are the measurable goals for this project’ (be careful. I don’t want you to get fired).

If everyone actually is on the same page about the fundamentals, the answers should almost match. Unless the answers are incredibly vague (like ‘administrators at an enterprise company’) they won’t match.

And that one exec who realizes that they aren’t aligned? What, they’re going to raise their hand in a meeting and say ‘I’m not sure we all agree on the fundamentals’ or, even more powerfully, ‘I’m not sure what our goals for this project/product are?’ Even if they are brave enough to do that, blind spots are blind. The resulting conversation will follow the same circuitous route that it always has, relying on words that everyone defines in slightly different ways.

My assertion is that great UX and product people can design just about anything, as long as they know who they are designing it for, what those people want and need, and which metrics will signal business success. And the greatest threat to that clarity is lack of executive alignment.

If execs are misaligned, then the UX people can never be sure who they are designing for. It doesn’t matter how much research they do (or how ‘right’ they are).

Instead, we will design something for user X, show it to stakeholders, and be told ‘that’s not quite it’ or ‘what about user Y’ or ‘that needs more blue.’ And we will have no recourse–because there is no alignment, so there is no way to push back. If the UXer says ‘but research showed us this…’ execs can always say ‘the market has changed’ or ‘the competitive landscape has changed’ or, really, anything they want.

Which is how, my friends, a UX person and persona expert got fascinated with executive alignment–and not just talking about it, but making it happen. Without getting fired.

Stay tuned. And comment! Have you had an experience with stakeholder misalignment?