I really appreciate the perspective of Lai-Jing Chu here as a Silicon Valley veteran. The struggle to prove the value of design is real.

I don’t know another function or role in the tech industry where it seems like we have to do our jobs at the same time as — and I will avoid saying “demonstrating value” here because it’s more than that — we carry out some sort of divine duty to make the product (let alone the world) a better place through our creativity.

Instead of more numbers like ROI calculations, Chu argues for counterintuitive approaches for advocacy, “not more left-brain exercises.”

Chu introduces us to W. Edwards Deming, an influential management consultant who wrote:

The most important figures needed for management of any organization are unknown and unknowable, but successful management must nevertheless take account of them.

One strategy she offers is to ask leadership a common-sense question: How would you grade the design?

Because when was the last time anyone did the most basic thing — to stop for a moment, hold the product in their hands, and take a good hard look at it? These questions throw the ball back in their court. It makes them wonder what they can do to help. Because chances are, most leaders want their product to have a good user or customer experience and understand that it makes a difference to their business success. You don’t just want buy-in — you want them to have true ownership.

I admire this approach, because chances are, leaders are already hearing about UX issues from customers. But to put this into practice in, let’s say, at any startup post-Series A will be an issue. There’s a lot of coordination and alignment that needs to happen because exec-level attention is much harder to come by.