Too Many Opinions, No Shared Direction
Context
A cross-functional product team—PMs, designers, engineers, and leadership—was approaching a major release milestone. But something was off. Everyone claimed alignment, yet every conversation revealed a different priority. The roadmap was crowded. The metrics were fuzzy. The team was stalling not because they lacked direction, but because they had too many.
What they needed wasn’t a new plan. They needed a shared one.
Role & Approach
I was brought in as a neutral facilitator and Principal UX Researcher to lead a one-week alignment sprint designed to untangle assumptions and create space for shared clarity.
I began with short stakeholder discovery calls to hear what each role thought the priorities were and where they felt tension. From there, I crafted a custom workshop to surface contradictions, map what was actually known, and collectively frame the problem they were solving.
It wasn’t about agreement. It was about clarity.
Key Moves
Conducted four short stakeholder interviews to surface strategic misalignment
Visualized competing definitions of success and risk tolerance in a shared synthesis board
Facilitated a 90-minute live workshop to reframe roadmap priorities and establish a shared metric framework
Outcomes
Within one week, the team aligned around two core goals, trimmed four features from scope, and gained shared language to talk about trade-offs in future decisions.
The PM told me, “We’ve had this meeting three times before. This is the first time it felt like it worked.”
The team re-centered on a clear narrative, adjusted two feature priorities, and finally moved stalled initiatives into motion. The audit didn’t add noise. It helped them hear themselves again.
Linked Service
Fractured buy-in? Fuzzy goals?
