The UX skill of seeing the flow before you draw it
The quicker you understand a system’s mechanics, the sooner you can spot red flags and help stakeholders solve them with you.
By Atulesh Kumar
One of the critical skills an enthusiastic, geeky UXer should possess is the ability to foresee critical challenges and outcomes.
When you are in the middle of a problem statement, your brain should start plotting the user journey, the logic and the user persona, without relying heavily on the drawing board. The quicker you understand the mechanics and architecture, the quicker you can predict red flags, technical or UX hurdles, and the actions to suggest.
This helps you go deeper and engage better with your stakeholders, and talk more about hidden factors and possible solutions. It not only helps you plot the architecture quickly in your head, but also helps your stakeholders feel more engaged in the project.
When a stakeholder is explaining the mechanics or the problem to you, try imagining the flow. The moment your expected flow gets blocked, ask relevant questions and suggest possible solutions to smooth out the flow.
This gives you more control over the architecture of the system, and it gives confidence to you and your stakeholders.
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