Business Thinking for Designers

Force-field Analysis
Designers, you are a force of change and not all partners are 
ready for that change. In some cases, they are quite resistant. 
For change to happen, the status quo will be disrupted either 
when conditions favorable to the change are present, or when 
forces resisting the change are reduced. 

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Being able to visualize problems gives you a leg up in 
understanding the whole problem. Force-field Analysis is a 
great visualization tool used to evaluate when the conditions 
are ripe for change. It’s a rapid way of examining the forces 
both for and against a change. This helps determine whether 
or not teams should move ahead (with confidence) with the 
proposed change.
Figure 3-8: Gauging forces for or against a change with Force-Field 
Analysis
The following questions may help you identify forces 
that will influence the change:

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• What benefit will the change deliver to your partners?
• Who supports the change? Who is against it? Why?
• Do you have the resources to make the change work?
• What costs and risks are involved?
• What business processes will be affected?
You can combine the three tools from this chapter on a semi-
regular basis to help you better understand your workplace 
culture and when the right conditions are in place for changing 
how things get done. They’ve served me and my teams well 
over the years.
Reflect
By visualizing cultural differences, stakeholder interest, and 
the forces both for and against change, designers can quickly 
identify gaps in the value they provide to partners and how 
they provide it. With gaps identified, you can then conduct 

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a retrospection of how designers provide value to their 
colleagues. 
Lori Kaplan from Atlassian on getting alignment using trading cards 
(Watch online)
Atlassian’s Team Health Monitors are fantastic, step-by-
step guides to help teams assess themselves across eight 
different attributes. They identify when there’s a problem with 
how design teams create, deliver, and capture value for the 
business and its business partners.

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Pro tip
Conduct reflections on a quarterly basis. This will allow enough 
time to discover new patterns, while ensuring too much time 
hasn’t passed to build on past discoveries.