Designing with stories

One of the best lessons I learned about design and product leadership came from the guys who made Southpark (yup, you heard me right). Two words: “But” and “Therefore.”

These two words give shape to stories. BUT represents conflict or opportunity. THEREFORE pulls the story forward. They stir emotion. They get people invested in the outcome.

Why is this one of the best lessons I’ve applied to my craft?

Because our ability to influence others starts with stories:
– Here’s why investing in this feature will lead to growth
– Here’s how a small usability improvement could have a big impact
– Here’s what I learned after speaking with 10 users

And yet these often fall flat

Too often, we fail to build a narrative. We aren’t giving shape to our stories. Others can’t see and feel what we do.

Take this example: Your team learns that users are frustrated that they can’t export their data. Executive leadership is concerned with people doing tasks off platform. You want to convince them that allowing them to do this will INCREASE engagement. You tell them, if we build this, then customers will be happier, so they’ll be more likely to keep using our product. “And then and then and then” … The executive doesn’t see it.

What if it was presented like this:
💝 People like that we aggregate their data. 83% of people we spoke with said it was a primary reason they bought us
😫 BUT they are frustrated that they can’t do more to manipulate it
💸 THEREFORE it undermines the value of the rest of the platform to them, even though we have made an intentional decision not to invest in this functionality. This has caused some customers to churn to a competitor
💡 BUT they tell us that if they could export the data regularly, it would mean our product is the source of truth, even if it isn’t the source of data manipulation
🔥 THEREFORE they wouldn’t feel it was an urgent to replace us with a competitor that had these types of data tools

[I’ve actually worked on this problem]

We have a responsibility to see how problems connect, and how our solutions can address these problems together. When design can add value upstream (customers having more confidence in our features when they are sold) and downstream (decreasing the likelihood of churn), then our value to the business is clear.

You’re going to find your own words to express this, but when you’re getting started, right it out using this format. BUT, THEREFORE. Show the shape of your story and you’ll be more successful helping others see it too.