Breaking Down Complex Solutions

After doing fantastic Continuous Research and Continuous Design work, you have a validated prototype. The only problem is that it would take weeks or months to build. Most features fail to deliver the expected business value, so this is unacceptably long to work on the feature. We need to break it down.

There will be always be objections to splitting a feature: "it's inefficient having to release multiple times", "we are a premium brand, we can't ship low quality products", "the feature only works when everything is in place". But these objections are misplaced. Every solution, can and should, be broken down into smaller releases. And User Story Mapping is a fantastic technique to help teams with this.

Check out my article below where I go into more detail about how to break down solutions and walk through a worked example.

This Week’s Updates

Enabling the Team

Research: When Leaders Express Positivity Early On, Employees Perform Better by Jacob Levitt, Constantinos Coutifaris and Paul Green
When leaders express positivity early in interactions, it sets a supportive tone that lifts team performance. Early positive cues build trust and encourage employees to take initiative.

Why Your Manager Is (Probably) Incompetent by Joost Minnaar
Many managers lack the experience and training needed to lead effectively, relying on outdated assumptions about leadership. Recognising these gaps can help organisations and teams support better management practices.

Product Direction

4 Levels Of Data Proficiency by Itamar Gilad
Very few companies are truly data-driven.  A data-driven approach can guide product decisions but balancing it with qualitative insights will get better outcomes.

Outcomes Are Hard by Marty Cagan
Achieving clear product outcomes is challenging. Success lies in focusing on desired results, aligning teams, and making strategic decisions rather than just delivering outputs.

Continuous Research

Rethinking Webflow's Research Team Structure by Brad Orego
Webflow’s research team restructured their process to balance foundational insights and product impact. Flexible structures and proactive communication helped them integracte research into decision-making more effectively. [Sponsored Content]

Ways To F**k Up User Research by Michael J. Lever
User research can easily go wrong when teams skip the basics or don’t adapt methods to their context. Recognising common missteps helps keep research honest, useful, and impactful.

Continuous Design

The Intersection Between It Systems Architecture And The User Experience by Silvia Podesta
Aligning technical infrastructure with user-centered design principles can create seamless and effective user interactions. When there is a collaborative approach between IT architects and UX designers technological solutions will meet user needs and expectations.

Documentation That Drives Adoption by Carly Ayres
Organizing content into logical sections, using real-world examples, and maintaining consistency makes documentation user-friendly.

Continuous Development

Breaking A Complex Solution Into Multiple Releases Using User Story Mapping by Rory Madden
Breaking down complex problems requires a systematic approach that balances user needs, technical constraints, and business value. Through user story mapping, we can transform overwhelming projects into manageable, value-driven, quick releases.

You Have Metrics — Now What? by Luca Rossi and Laura Tacho
Metrics are only valuable if teams know how to use them. Engineering teams can effectively apply metrics to improve performance and guide decision-making.

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Don’t miss this opportunity to refine your strategic thinking and advance your career. Only UXDX Subscribers get 20% off, secure your spot now using: UXDXMEMBER25 at checkout here.

FREE COMMUNITY EVENTS 

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Video of the Week
How To Influence As A Design Manager Within An Enterprise

In this insightful session, Roberta Virzì, an experienced design leader, shares valuable lessons on how early-career designers can effectively step into managerial roles and influence change within large enterprises. Roberta draws from her own experiences of structuring embedded teams, gaining stakeholder support, and fostering communication between product managers, developers, and designers.

Learn how to build influence, align teams, and drive impactful design decisions in an organizational setting. Check out the video below!

The Results of Last Week’s Poll

The question: Do you use dynamic feature flags in your product?

This week’s poll reveals that most teams (42%) are using dynamic feature flags extensively, demonstrating the growing adoption of this powerful tool to enable flexible, real-time control over features. These teams are taking full advantage of the benefits of dynamic flags, allowing them to experiment and roll out features gradually.

24% use them more limitedly, while 17% still rely on static feature flags, which offer less flexibility in managing features. Another 17% don’t use feature flags at all.

The results highlight that dynamic feature flags are becoming a key strategy for more agile and adaptable product development. If you’re looking to make the most of feature flags and improve your feature management processes, consider exploring best practices in our Continuous Development course!

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