How to write a UX Content Design “decision document” for non-UX stakeholders
Get buy-in for your carefully researched, thorough recommendations.
Friends, if you’re a UX Writer or Content Designer, chances are you’re part of a small group (or solo), and you’ve got a whole big organization and multiple product teams to support.
On top of that, you’ll doubtlessly be spending a lot of time advocating for your craft, educating others about good UX content, and finding ways to make sure you’re included early enough in processes to be able to add the value you know you can deliver.
And what comes with that? Lots of context switching, lots of research, and lots of recommendations. Now, while with some teams, recommendations may be implemented directly, with others, there may still be some convincing needed, especially for larger projects or those with teams less experienced when it comes to working with UX professionals.
One thing I’ve found that helps in these cases is to write up a final “Decision Document”. This is where I share my final recommendations and all related work, research and analysis. It’s almost an argument, making the case for my recommendations, so that it’s clear what the evidence and rationale is for stakeholders, and there’s documented evidence of this.
