3 action plays for strategy and positioning

Strategy is about choosing direction - deciding which problems are worth solving.

Positioning is about making that direction visible and valuable - showing how design drives outcomes that matter to both users and the business.

Tell the money story

Translate design improvements into financial outcomes.

Action play: When you talk about design impact, skip the adjectives and show the numbers. Executives don't care that a flow is "simpler" or a form is "cleaner." They care that fewer users drop off, more convert, and revenue grows as a result.

Whenever possible, connect your design work to a business metric - revenue, retention, conversion, or cost reduction.

Example: Instead of saying, "We simplified the application form," say, "This redesign increased completed applications by 18%, adding roughly $42,000 in monthly revenue."

Can't do that? Don't have the numbers? Figure out how to measure your work and bring the numbers to the next meeting. You don't need an exact dollar amount every time, but tying a number to the design change helps leadership understand the value of your work.

Why: Design tells a financial story whether you frame it or not. When you link UX improvements to measurable gains, you make that story visible. It's how you turn "nice work" into "business-critical work." And that's what builds influence - not prettier pixels, but proven profit.

Map the value exchange

Understand what the user gives and what they get back. If the give/get scale isn't balanced, tip it in their favor.

Action play: Pick one key interaction in your product and draw a quick map showing what value the user gives and what they receive in return.

Start with the user's input: their time, data, attention, or money. Then note what they get in exchange - clarity, progress, motivation, or reward.

Connect both sides with arrows to visualize the trade.

Example: In a fitness app, the user gives time, effort, and personal data to stay on track - and receives expert guidance, motivation, and visible progress that keeps them coming back.

Why: Every product is a value exchange. When users feel they give more than they get, they drop off. When they feel they get more than they give, they return - and tell others.

Mapping this balance helps you design experiences that feel fair, motivating, and worth sticking with. Aim to make the exchange feel unfair - in the user's favor.

Draw the product triangle

Balance what users need, what the business wants, and what tech can deliver.

Action play: Draw a triangle and label the corners User, Business, and Tech. Next, think about what's driving most decisions in your team right now. Are you focusing mostly on user needs, business growth, or technical delivery?

Mark a dot inside the triangle where you think that focus sits - closer to the corner that dominates your current work.

Discuss:

• What are we prioritizing?
• What happens if we stay here?
• Which corner are we neglecting?
• What's one thing we could do this week to bring it closer to balance?

Example: Your team keeps releasing new features to hit growth targets, so the dot sits near Business. That creates pressure - users get more options but less polish, and the tech team struggles to maintain quality.

To rebalance, pause and fix the most common usability issue or optimize performance in a key flow before adding another feature.

Why: Every product operates inside this tension. When one side dominates, the others quietly erode. Over-focus on business goals and users stop caring. Over-focus on users and the business loses direction. Over-focus on tech and innovation slows to a crawl.

Drawing the triangle turns invisible trade-offs into visible choices. It helps the team act with intent instead of habit, designing from awareness rather than momentum.