What to prepare before a design engagement
Preparation shortens the first weeks of a design engagement.
Start with available materials, mark gaps and agree who will supply anything missing.
For the first discussion, prioritise a product walkthrough, the main problem, representative user roles, known constraints and a decision-maker. Add research and analytics when available; do not manufacture evidence to complete the list.
Table of Contents
Summarize with:
Key facts
- Preparation covers access, material and decisions.
- A test account with realistic data is the most useful single item.
- Recorded customer calls and support tickets show problems in customers’ words.
- Analytics on the workflows in scope give a baseline.
- Start with available materials, mark gaps and agree who will supply anything missing.
Access
- A test account with realistic data
- Current design files, if any
- A contact on the engineering side
Material
- Recorded customer calls or support tickets
- Analytics on the workflows in scope
- Competitor products your customers compare you with
Before kickoff
Decisions
- Who approves design work
- How feedback will be collected
- What counts as done for the first phase
Why each item matters
| Item | What it prevents |
|---|---|
| Realistic test data | Designs that break on real volume and long names |
| An engineering contact | Designs that ignore build constraints |
| Customer calls and tickets | Solving problems customers do not have |
| Analytics | Results that rest on opinion after release |
| A named approver | Feedback loops with no decision |
Common mistakes
- Giving access to a demo account with clean, small data
- Starting without a decision-maker on the client side
- Collecting feedback from many people with no one to reconcile it
- Leaving “done” undefined for the first phase