Hey Reader,

This is part 4 of 4 in our series on getting buy-in for human-centred design. You can catch up on the five walls and the leader archetypes and What actually works if you missed them.

Over the past number of weeks, I have written about the blockers, the leader types, and the tactics. Today I want to tell you what I am doing with all of it.

The final module of This is Human Centered Design is not going to be a chapter you read and put down. It is going to be a practical companion. Something you can return to when you are stuck, when the politics feel impossible, when you are wondering whether any of this is worth it.

Part of that is a guided "if this, then that" journey. Think of it as a decision tree for real situations.

You identify the blocker you are hitting. You identify the type of leader you are dealing with. And the journey maps out a set of practical next steps based on what has actually worked for practitioners in similar positions.

It draws on everything I have learned across nearly 300 podcast conversations. It builds on the themes from the weekly series many of you followed through the book modules. And it is shaped directly by the stories you have shared with me over these past few weeks.

Here is a taste of how it works.

Blocker: The Proof Problem + Leader: The Metrics Leader

You have no existing data to point to. Your leader needs numbers before they will commit to anything.

Then: run a shadow study alongside an existing project. Document the decisions being made without user input and the rework they create. Present the cost of the status quo, not the value of the alternative.

For example, track a single service over four weeks. How many calls come in about the same issue? What does each call cost? How many hours of staff time go into workarounds that exist because nobody asked users what they actually needed? Put those numbers in front of the Metrics Leader and you are no longer pitching HCD. You are presenting a cost saving opportunity that happens to require talking to people.

Share your thoughts with us Real stories from real practitioners about getting buy-in for human-centred design. Your experience could shape the book. Share story

Blocker: The Culture Ceiling + Leader: The Sceptic

Your leader has been burned by previous transformation programmes. They are not going to buy another one.

Then: do not propose a programme. Embed yourself in a live project. Use HCD methods without the label. Deliver a tangible improvement, then name the approach retrospectively.

Do not ask for a workshop. Do not propose a sprint. Just say "I would like to sit in on a few calls with the people who use this service before we finalise the brief." Frame it as due diligence, not design. When the insights change the brief and the project goes better as a result, that is when you can say "that is what user research looks like."

Blocker: The Urgency Trap + Leader: The Speed Leader

Everything is due yesterday. Your leader measures success by delivery speed.

Then: offer a 48-hour insight sprint. Interview five users, synthesise overnight, present findings with three prioritised recommendations by end of day two. Prove the method fits their tempo.

Do not ask for the project to slow down. Ask for 48 hours alongside the project. Run the interviews in parallel with the kick-off. Come back with insights that are specific, actionable, and directly connected to the decisions being made that week. When the Speed Leader sees that you can move at their pace and still bring user perspective into the room, the next conversation gets easier.

Blocker: The Ownership Vacuum + Leader: The Political Leader

The fix sits across multiple departments. Your leader does not want their territory exposed.

Then: start with the part of the journey that sits entirely within one team's control. Deliver an improvement that makes that team look good. Use the result to open a conversation with the adjacent team. Build the cross-cutting picture incrementally rather than presenting it all at once.

The Political Leader will support this because it does not threaten their position. It actually strengthens it. They get to point at a concrete improvement in their area. And over time, as you stitch together improvements across teams, the systemic picture emerges organically rather than being dropped on people from above.

Blocker: The Language Gap + Leader: The Absent Leader

You have nominal support but no active sponsorship. Your leader is never in the room when it matters.

Then: build a peer network of allies across functions who can carry the work forward without needing senior escalation for every decision. Send your Absent Leader a weekly three-line update. And document everything so the evidence trail exists when you need it.

At the same time, translate your work into the language of whoever is actually present and making decisions. If that is a head of operations, speak to operations. If that is a product manager, speak product. The Absent Leader may not be there to translate for you. So you have to become your own translator, adapting to every room you walk into.

That is the kind of practical, scenario-based guidance that will sit in the final module. Not theory. Not principles. Actual moves you can make on Monday morning.

The full journey will cover many more combinations than these five examples. And it will include the grey areas, the moments where two blockers overlap, where a leader shifts type depending on the project, where the right move is not obvious and you have to make a judgement call.

That is where your stories become essential.

If you want your experience to be part of this, there is still time. I am particularly looking for stories about:

• A moment where something finally clicked with a resistant leader
• A tactic that backfired and what you learned from it
• The organisational conditions that made HCD possible (or impossible)
• A situation where you had to adapt your approach mid-project because the dynamics changed

Just hit reply. A few sentences is plenty. And if I would like to include your story in the book, I will reach out personally to talk it through.

Share your thoughts on this series Real stories from real practitioners about getting buy-in for human-centred design. Your experience could shape the book. Share story

Thank you to everyone who has already shared. This module is better because of you.

And if you have found this series useful, please forward it to someone who is fighting this fight right now. The more practitioners who contribute, the more useful this resource becomes for all of us.

Gerry

Gerry Scullion​ Founder & Designer ​ We are building a global network of people doing human-centred work. Come add your name, learn, listen, connect and network - it's free!→ thisishcd.com/directory​

​

Our Sponsors

Why not check out their links and show them some love? If you buy from these links, we may make a small commission.