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How to deal with HiPPOs, the most dangerous opinions that jeopardize designs
The Highest Paid Person’s Opinion (HiPPO) can often destroy a good design
Part of becoming a Senior Product Designer is learning how to persuade people who have the power to destroy your designs.
Few things can ruin the design process (and companies) more than the Highest Paid Person's Opinion (HiPPO). The Highest Paid Person's Opinion (HiPPO) problem occurs when decision-making is dominated by the highest ranking (or most senior member), even if their views are not entirely objective.
You may have experienced this, as well. Perhaps you’ve devised an excellent design alternative to address some user frustrations, but it gets shot down because someone else doesn't like it.
However, when I started getting involved in Data-Informed UX Design, I learned to avoid these issues better.
Avoid arguing and delay decision-making enough to gather data
One of the most common scenarios with HiPPOs rearing their head is that it can be sudden. For example, the CEO shows up at a meeting (or sees a presentation) and asks to include a different feature (or change the design).
In these cases, one of the most important things to do is not react immediately. This is to avoid several problems:
- You don't want to make it seem like Designers can generate designs immediately (although a sketch is fine)
- You don't want to immediately shoot down the idea without further context (antagonizing the CEO)
- You probably don't have the necessary data on hand.
The smartest thing to do is to take a moment and say that you’ll look into that idea. This is to buy you time to look for data. Data is essential in these cases because using Data is one of the most reliable ways to tame the HiPPO.
The reason why is that Data helps de-personalize decision-making. If this becomes an argument between you, the designer, and the CEO, who signs your bosses' paychecks, it's no surprise who will win the fight (even if it makes things worse for users).
