Hello again,

I have found myself thinking a lot about working with others recently. Digital requires us to do that a lot. We work with designers, developers, marketers, researchers, copywriters, and countless other stakeholders.

We need the expertise of each to deliver effective websites and digital services. However, balancing those many voices can be challenging and being heard even tougher.

Each stakeholder approaches projects with their unique perspective and personality. So it is unsurprising that this can lead to conflict and some voices being drowned out, resulting in simmering resentment.

Yet the alternative is not particularly attractive either. Organizations that prioritize consensus do so at the risk of reducing progress to a snail's pace, nobody taking responsibility, and solutions being watered down to the point they please nobody.

My Three Techniques to Working With Others

So how do we run collaborative, cross-disciplinary digital projects without them either grinding to a halt from too many opinions or leading to conflict with one or two individuals dominating?

Well, I have grown to favor three techniques:

• Establish clear ownership — Before I start any project these days, I try and get everybody to agree on who will have the ultimate decision. I seek to agree on one individual who makes the call when different voices disagree. You will find that people are reluctant to decide on this, but the alternative is some issues being almost impossible to resolve without painful and time-consuming debate.
• Have agreed upon objectives — I also seek to agree on a set of objectives and ensure these are prioritized. For example, is it more important to prioritize conversion over a positive brand perception? Should copy conforming to a style guide come before making a sale? Having these priorities establishes a pecking order in opinions, not based on seniority but the type of feedback and opinions being expressed.
• If in doubt, test — Probably the most important of the three, I have learned that the best way of resolving different perspectives is to test. That could be a survey, an AB test, unfacilitated usability testing, or whatever else gets the job done in a lightweight way that gets an answer fast. Don't over-engineer the testing; instead, seek to find a method that will get you an independent answer as quickly as possible.

That last point also brings me to another aspect of working with others that, although challenging to hear, is true — just because you are the expert doesn't mean anybody will listen to you.

Support Your Opinion With Evidence

Despite all my years of experience and impressive portfolio of clients, I have learned that people will still not listen to me unless I can provide independent evidence.

Now, whenever I express an opinion, I must present something to back up that statement. Either some piece of research I have done, some insights from analytics, or, if all else fails, an independent source who validates my opinion.

In all honesty, this is often why I am hired. Internal digital experts are frustrated that stakeholders ignore them, so they turn to me as an independent outside source to validate their opinions. It is terrible that this is needed, but it does work.

Trust me; I know how frustrating it can be to justify everything you say. You feel like you are wasting hours gathering the evidence you need. But the alternative is endless argument and debate that takes even longer.

Working effectively with others is a skill like any other. It takes time to learn, and I still do not always get it right. However, delivering excellent digital services and sites is impossible without it.

So my advice is to start practicing today, try things, observe what works and iterate!