I’ve voted. Have you?
Our design processes frequently incorporate the idea of “majority vote” for features or stories that we believe, as a group, are important to prioritize. For example, we’ll hold a brainstorming session and pop ideas on stickies. We’ll group the stickies, and then each participant three sticker dots to pop, as votes, on the ideas or concepts they deem most important. The result? Majority rules.
In a conversation I had the other day, a participant pointed out that the very nature of “majority votes” can, through its execution, demote inclusivity. Focusing on inclusion is key, I think, particularly if the goal is to end up with (say) a prioritized backlog.
Let’s pretend we need to preserve a feature vote. What can we do to generate more inclusivity?
First, be conscientious with the rationale for voting. Are you asking people to consider what’s most important — for themselves? What does each vote mean? For instance, why not vote based upon features’ likelihood for including underserved audiences into an experience, rather than enhancing existing audiences’ capabilities? Think carefully about the framing of your ask.
Second, after the vote, give time for an equity pause (as an agenda item). After items have been grouped and individuals have had their vote, ask: “Who have we left out?” and “Who feels their needs aren’t represented?” Of course, give participants the opportunity to shift their votes to support items that may not have received ample consideration beforehand.
But let’s broaden the conversation. What should we have done beforehand? In another recent conversation (apologies, a bunch are off the record!), we landed upon the idea that before diving into the conversation at all, a product leader should be sure a representative and diverse group of both actual and potential stakeholders are present and that, as a group, a leader has led a conversation to collaboratively decide upon how product/feature decisions should be made.
The community should have a stake in how decisions are made. I love it.
Has anyone tried that? If so, what does a sample agenda look like? I’d love to learn!
