How do you prioritize user feedback when faced with conflicting stakeholder opinions?

Prioritize user feedback by aligning it with business goals, using data to support decisions, and focusing on critical impact. Facilitate open dialogue among stakeholders, employ prioritization frameworks, and consider A/B testing to resolve conflicts. Maintain transparency by documenting decisions and keeping stakeholders informed.

When prioritizing user feedback amidst conflicting stakeholder opinions, I focus on three areas: user needs, data, and business goals. First, prioritize feedback that improves the user experience. Second, use data such as surveys or user behavior to validate feedback. Finally, balance this with business objectives to ensure decisions benefit both users and the company’s growth. This ensures informed and user-focused decisions.

Place each stakeholder’s opinion within the urgency and impact matrix. This visualization aids in identifying which issues require immediate attention and which have the most significant consequences. Clearly communicate the reasoning behind prioritization decisions to all stakeholders. Explaining how these decisions align with the company’s mission and the results. Then review with those involved and adjust.

The title of this item can be understood to imply that there is/needs to be a connection between user feedback and stakeholder opinions. There isn't and should not be. Effective feedback must be addressed as data to be processed and used to improve the design towards the business goals and user experience. When testing for specific stakeholder concerns or questions - the feedback needs to be relevant to these issues. If you can honestly quantify the feedback and present it so that a trend or preference by users can be identified - great! But disagreements between stakeholders must not affect your research and must not affect the presentation of the feedback, or you will be doing a disservice to your stakeholders.

I find that users and stakeholders are often aligned on goals but have different thoughts on achieving them, and different priorities along the way to getting there. Case in point, improving onboarding to increase activations vs shipping a new feature to increase retention. Both are valid. In cases like this, which I find to be most frequent, utilizing an impact vs effort exercise and getting epics or issues for both in the backlog satisfies all parties, assuming feedback was valid in the first place.

In my experience, having a clear business objective at the forefront is essential for effectively evaluating feedback from stakeholders. This can be achieved through open communication channels between them and the development team, and having a streamlined prioritization framework. By focusing on these elements, we can implement improvements quickly and efficiently, ensuring we meet our goals and drive significant enhancements to the product!

I clarify what we're aiming for with our project. This helps me check if stakeholder ideas or user feedback actually support our objectives. If a stakeholder's suggestion doesn't fit our goals or improve user experience, it's not top priority. User feedback that matches our targets, that's what I focus on.

There's no clear answer for this, as the casuistry is huge and varies from one company to the other. However, one thing that always helps is to measure the impact of the reported issue, volume of users that reported it, risk of implementing any actions, and cost of implementation. In that way we can create a diagram that reflects the following: ✅ Best case scenario: Low cost + Low risk + High impact + Many people (No brainer, let's do it!) ❌ Worst case scenario: High cost + High risk + Low impact + Few people (We don't implement any actions)

Actively listen to all stakeholders, Maintain open, transparent, and regular communication, Involve stakeholders from the beginning to ensure their perspectives are considered, Prioritize stakeholder needs based on project goals, Implement a formal conflict resolution process. Remember strong process kills all conflicts.

When prioritizing user feedback amid conflicting stakeholder opinions, start by focusing on user needs and experiences. Use data to inform decisions, such as survey results and usage metrics. Evaluate how each stakeholder’s feedback aligns with business goals and user needs. Employ prioritization frameworks like MoSCoW or RICE to objectively assess feedback. Communicate transparently with stakeholders, explaining the rationale behind decisions. Implement changes incrementally to test user reactions before full rollout. Seek compromises when possible, and regularly re-evaluate priorities as new feedback and data emerge. This approach helps balance user satisfaction with stakeholder interests effectively.

Paralelamente, busco insights qualitativos por meio de pesquisas e entrevistas com usuários, tanto para identificar pontos críticos quanto para entender as necessidades e motivações deles em um nível mais profundo. Quando me deparo com opiniões conflitantes das partes interessadas, esses dados servem como base sólida para a tomada de decisão.

As a Product Manager or UX person, we should be Domain expert. Without depth domain knowledge, we should not able to prioritise the feature or giving best solution. ——- If we are a Domain Expert, we should know 80% of the most used features for the product. For this part, we don’t need any stats or usages. Other 10-20% only we need Client Org type and their process, User Role specific etc… because same software should be used by different types of companies. Eg. CRM based software need more customised solution based on their own requirements and process. ——- Yes, we need some stats to enhance the experience.

The ideal scenario is combining both types of data collection. However, when this isn’t possible, collecting data through features that allow users to provide feedback on improvements—whether already implemented or desired—can yield precise insights, especially when aligned with business objectives. By enabling stakeholders to assess and share their opinions alongside the development team, and with a mindful moderation of goals, it’s possible to implement changes based on the data collected effectively!

Tomar decisiones basadas en datos es fundamental para evitar suposiciones. Las métricas proporcionan una visión clara de lo que realmente importa para la mayoría de los usuarios y del impacto potencial en el negocio. Sin embargo, cuando la información es limitada, es esencial realizar investigaciones adicionales, como entrevistas cualitativas, encuestas breves o pruebas de usabilidad, para llenar esos vacíos. Si el tiempo es un factor, prioriza pruebas rápidas o prototipos para validar las hipótesis antes de tomar decisiones críticas.

I collect all the data I can. Usage stats tell me what features are popular or problematic. User comments give me the why behind the what. This data helps me see which feedback represents most users' needs and which might be exceptions.

A triangulação dos dados pode ser uma estratégia poderosa. Ao combinar diferentes tipos de dados, como análises quantitativas de comportamento do usuário com feedback qualitativo, você pode validar suas descobertas e aumentar a confiança nas suas decisões. Por exemplo, se os dados de uso mostram que um recurso é subutilizado e o feedback qualitativo sugere que os usuários têm dificuldade em encontrar ou entender esse recurso, isso indica uma necessidade clara de melhorias na usabilidade ou na visibilidade. É também valioso considerar o contexto temporal dos dados coletados.

Reúna informações e dados quantitativos e qualitativos que sustentem os feedbacks recebidos, ajudando a tomar decisões baseadas em evidências.

Gathering data is good but should be aligned towards meeting the business requirements as well. It can be overwhelming of course but adopting RICE metrics to analyse data can be beneficial when there can be a possibility of conflict with the stakeholders.

No mapeamento de stakeholders, identifico todos os envolvidos no projeto, categorizando-os com base em sua influência e interesse. Uso uma matriz de poder e interesse para definir estratégias de engajamento específicas para cada grupo. Prioritariamente, mantenho stakeholders com alto poder e interesse bem informados e envolvidos nas decisões, enquanto monitoro continuamente o mapa para ajustar conforme o projeto evolui. O objetivo é equilibrar as demandas sem perder o foco no usuário e nos objetivos do negócio.

Manter-se com foco na resolução do conflito e acolher com escuta ativa, contribui e muito para resolução de conflitos. O retorno deve ser compartilhado sem que se tome partido para si.

I map out who's who in terms of influence and interest in our project. This helps me weigh stakeholder opinions based on their impact or expertise. It's not about ignoring anyone, but understanding who to listen to more when making strategic decisions.

Stakeholders que consistentemente fornecem feedback construtivo e valioso, baseado em dados ou em experiência prática, podem merecer uma atenção maior em comparação com aqueles cujas contribuições são menos substanciais ou mais esporádicas. Esse histórico pode ajudar a filtrar o feedback e focar nas sugestões que têm maior probabilidade de agregar valor ao projeto. O mapeamento das partes interessadas também deve ser dinâmico, não estático. À medida que o projeto evolui, o nível de influência e interesse das partes interessadas pode mudar, assim como suas expectativas.

Mapeamento de Stakeholders -Identifique e mapeie os stakeholders envolvidos, entendendo suas influências e interesses no projeto.

One thing i have realised is that every stakeholder has a different idea and approach towards which direction the product should go. Its essential to map those ideas and reach a common goal before and while the project is going.

All Stakeholders may or may not be an expert in all areas. One can have good strategy move, other one can a great management skill… Once we collect all Opinions and feedback, we should prioritise everything. Before that, all should aligned with “what are all the features or solutions going to release for the Phase” All Stakeholders focus will be “do a Success project”. For this, others should understand for Best Decisions. This decision, may against with some stakeholder or aligned with others Stakeholders. All should understand Users Pain points. This will give a success project.

En mi experiencia, es un desafío constante negociar con el negocio para encontrar un equilibrio donde las necesidades del usuario se prioricen sin comprometer los intereses de la empresa. A veces, esto implica abogar por cambios que, aunque inicialmente puedan no ser bien recibidos por las partes interesadas, en última instancia, mejoran la experiencia del usuario y contribuyen al éxito del producto. La clave está en demostrar cómo una buena experiencia de usuario puede alinearse con los objetivos comerciales a largo plazo.

Information Architect defined based on our Product Goal. Our Product goal (feature set) is clear, we can avoid most of the unwanted debate in IA stage. If some features released based on Stakeholder decision (even after some debate for other solution), result will be reflected in Customer support, reviews and usage stats. This will prove, taken decision was wrong, fixes need. Decision making is great skill in product UX.

I always keep users at the heart of our design. When opinions clash, I think about what's best for the user experience. Sometimes, this means pushing for changes stakeholders might not like initially, but it's for the betterment of our users and product.

Promover workshops ou sessões de co-criação com as partes interessadas, onde o foco é a experiência do usuário, pode ser uma maneira poderosa de alinhar todos em torno de uma visão comum. Durante essas sessões, as partes interessadas podem participar diretamente do processo de design, explorando as implicações de diferentes decisões e ganhando uma compreensão mais profunda da perspectiva do usuário. É também útil comunicar que uma abordagem centrada no usuário não apenas melhora a satisfação do usuário, mas também pode levar a resultados tangíveis de negócios, como maior retenção de clientes, maior engajamento e conversões mais altas.

Foco centrado no usuário - Priorize sempre o feedback que impacta diretamente na experiência e nas necessidades dos usuários finais.

What works in most cases in my experience is being prepared with data. This requires gathering user feedback in different forms. With new features I would say that user tests are invaluable. Especially unsupervised but observed by stakeholders. This is always eye opening. Apart from that: - analytics data - examples of good practices - various fidelity prototypes

When handling conflicting stakeholder opinions, prioritize user feedback through Feedback Synthesis. Here's the process: 1. Collect and Categorize Feedback: Gather and classify feedback into categories. 2. Align Feedback with Business Goals: Match feedback with company goals and prioritize feedback impacting key outcomes. 3. Consider User Impact: Focus on user-centered feedback and assess its impact. 4. Prioritize Feasibility: Analyze the feasibility of feedback and prioritize based on impact. 5. Consolidate Feedback: Combine different opinions into a cohesive strategy. 6. Engage Stakeholders: Communicate openly and focus on user needs and business goals. 7. Iterate and Test: Test changes, validate assumptions and integrate feedback.

I blend all feedback to find common ground. Where users and stakeholders agree, that's where we start. For disagreements, I look at how changes would affect users and balance that with stakeholder reasoning.

Envolva as partes interessadas no processo de síntese sempre que possível. Isso pode ser feito através de workshops colaborativos onde as diferentes fontes de feedback são revisadas em conjunto. Ao incluir as partes interessadas nesse processo, você garante que elas compreendam a complexidade das decisões a serem tomadas e vejam como suas contribuições são valorizadas, mesmo que nem todas as sugestões sejam implementadas. Um aspecto crucial é a comunicação contínua durante a síntese de feedback. Manter as partes interessadas e a equipe informadas sobre como o feedback está sendo processado e as decisões estão sendo tomadas ajuda a construir confiança e alinha as expectativas.

Síntese de Feedback — Compile e analise o feedback de forma holística, identificando padrões e áreas críticas que precisam ser abordadas.

Another type of decision framework that I've had success with is to do a scrappy A/B test of both solutions, the stakeholders vision and the solution based on user feedback. Align on a success metric and carve out time to test with at least 5 users. Having access to and testing with stakeholders who work directly with customers can help you get quality data faster. The fidelity of the prototype should match the confidence of the solution, and both prototypes should have matching levels of fidelity. Find a way for your stakeholders to attend a moderated session. This counts as another decision framework. Seeing and hearing target customers use a solution is powerful, and moderated sessions enable us to ask deeper questions behind behavior.

I use a framework to decide what feedback to prioritize. It considers how relevant feedback is to our goals, its impact on users, and how much work it'll take. This makes my decisions clear and understandable to everyone, even if their ideas aren't fully used.

Quadro de decisão —Utilize um quadro de decisão que ajude a visualizar as diferentes opções e a priorizar as ações baseadas no impacto e na viabilidade.