Aligning stakeholders with a design kick-off meeting

Pursuing a career in design is driven by the satisfaction of creating impactful, user-friendly products, yet not every project meets expectations, often due to misalignment in development processes. This misalignment stems from inadequate early collaboration among product managers, designers, and engineers, resulting in features that fail to resonate with users. To address these challenges, a design requirements kick-off meeting was introduced, involving all relevant stakeholders at the right time to define problems, align on success metrics, and clarify requirements. A RACI chart was employed to specify roles, and a collaborative workspace in FigJam was established to maintain alignment. The process also included defining success measures using the SMART goals framework, mapping user journeys for better understanding, prioritizing requirements to avoid scope creep, and identifying challenges to mitigate surprises. This approach has led to significant improvements in collaboration, reduced misalignment, and enhanced the strategic role of designers, transforming them into key partners in the product development process.