A framework to position UX as a business-critical function rather than a design luxury.
The ALINA™ method isn’t about reinventing UX—it’s about making it business-fit.
By prioritizing alignment, collaboration, and negotiation, we shift from being designers ideating and executing on our ideas to facilitators of strategic decision-making—bridging the gap between user needs and business goals.
Most projects fail because teams aren’t aligned from the start.
In many UX processes, the first phase is often labeled "Discovery" or "Research." The assumption is that the problem has already been defined, and UX teams are tasked with gathering insights about users to validate or refine the existing requirements. However, this often means:
- UX designers accept business requirements at face value without questioning their alignment with real business goals.
- Stakeholders come with predefined solutions, expecting UX to execute rather than explore.
- UX teams dive into research, user interviews, and journey mapping before ensuring everyone agrees on what problem they are actually solving.
- Defining the real business problem before any design work begins.
- Aligning user needs with business constraints and objectives (e.g., revenue growth, cost savings, risk mitigation).
- Facilitating conversations that uncover hidden assumptions before they become roadblocks
In many UX processes, the assumption is that designers have unlimited time and budget to conduct deep-dive user research before any design decisions are made. However, in fast-paced and changing business environments, this is rarely the case.
Traditional research-heavy approaches often mean:
- UX teams struggle to secure buy-in for extensive research efforts due to time or budget constraints.
- Business leaders expect quick turnarounds, leaving little room for large-scale studies.
- Research findings may be ignored if they don’t align with business priorities, leading to wasted efforts.
Assumptions are expensive. That’s why research is non-negotiable. But research doesn’t have to take months.
- Validating assumptions efficiently—leveraging existing data, internal expert knowledge, and quick, targeted research methods.
- Scaling research to fit constraints—choosing lightweight methods like user proxy conversations, competitor analysis, and rapid usability tests when deep discovery isn’t possible. .
- Learning within the business context—understanding how industry trends, market shifts, and company goals impact user needs.
Traditional UX processes often assume that collaboration happens after research—when designers synthesize findings and present solutions to stakeholders. However, in business environments:
- Stakeholders and developers feel disconnected from the process, making buy-in harder.
- UX recommendations are met with resistance because they feel imposed rather than co-created.
- Design work happens in isolation, leading to surprises and last-minute pushback.
- Proactive involvement—engaging stakeholders immediately after aligning goals, rather than waiting until after research is complete.
- Building empathy across teams—using artifacts like empathy maps, storyboards, workflow diagrams, and service blueprints to help non-designers understand user needs.
- Encouraging co-creation—allowing stakeholders to contribute ideas and feedback before final designs take shape, ensuring stronger alignment and smoother approvals.
In traditional UX processes, teams often assume that stakeholders will accept their recommendations as the best path forward because it is research-driven. However, in business environments: creates challenges:
- UX proposals are frequently deprioritized in favor of short-term business goals.
- Product managers and executives must balance user needs against technical feasibility, cost, and speed to market.
- UX teams become frustrated when their solutions are rejected, altered, or put on the backlog.
- Understanding trade-offs - using a scale to assess feasibility and agree on incremental improvements rather than all-or-nothing solutions.
- Finding common ground—balancing user needs with technical and financial constraints to ensure that UX recommendations are actionable and prioritized.
Just like the traditional UX process' phase of testing, ASSESS phase in ALINA™ allows teams to test ideas before they move into development—but it expands the focus to not only check for functionality but also ensure alignment with user needs, business goals, and overall effectiveness.
What sets Assess in ALINA™ apart is its flexibility and broader scope:
- The validation process is adaptable to different business needs, so it’s not just about formal testing; it can include informal user feedback, small-scale assessments, and other flexible validation methods that can work within time or budget constraints.
- It connects back to business metrics. Beyond validating usability, Assess ensures that teams define the right metrics for success—ROIs and KPIs—so that after development, success is measurable and tied to business value.
- Reassurance is key here—teams can launch with confidence, knowing the design has been assessed for user satisfaction, usability, and overall value.
In the ALINA™ method, the arrow looping from ASSESS (A) back to INVOLVE (I) represents the iterative nature of the process. It highlights that once we Assess a solution—through user validation, testing, and feedback—we don’t just stop there. Instead, we cycle back to Involve key stakeholders, business influencers, and teammates again.
This step is critical because assessment often reveals new insights, gaps, or areas for improvement. Rather than treating design as a linear process, we embrace iteration:
- Involve: Bring stakeholders back into the conversation with fresh data from the assessment phase. This ensures alignment with business goals, feasibility with technology, and user impact.
- Negotiate: Use findings to adjust priorities, refine strategies, and make trade-offs that balance user needs with business constraints.
- Assess (again): Implement refinements and validate them with users, ensuring the next iteration delivers even more value.
When UX aligns with business objectives, involves key players early, negotiates what’s feasible, and assesses success beyond just usability—we become indispensable voices driving the strategy.
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