Nobody wants to talk about it. Nobody even wants to think about it.

But here you are. The environment changes, the law changes, the business model changes, the user needs change and no one is prepared for it.

Enters chaos.

Like it or not, the services and products we design today will encounter sooner or later the need for a change. Sometimes it is drastic and an entire service will need to be killed due to an unforeseen suite of events. Sometimes, it is a minor change like replacing an old functionality by a newer one due to a user behavior change or a new technology rise. So we need to pivot and change the design, flow and metrics.

But sometimes it is just a lack of planning and unwillingness to look at the potential break off points in a user journey. We are so obsessed with chasing the next big thing and the ultimate perfect experience / happy path, that we completely ignore the potential fact that users will not click on the link, users may not receive the confirmation email, users may not want to submit their social security number. And our beautiful experience will collapse on the spot and we will need to come up with a solution within a day. Hastily, awkwardly... un-Double-Diamond-like.

We will discuss with Anne Dhir all the potential scenarios your experience could face and how to prepare for it:

How do you bring up/talk/plan for unhappy paths and break off points in user journeys?

How do designers talk/prepare business and stakeholders about potential exist strategies for functionalities or whole services?

How do designers work/plan on "retiring/sunsetting" some functionalities of an MVP without jeopardizing the entire product/service?