You're working with a difficult client. How can you communicate effectively with your team?

As a product designer, you know how important it is to understand your client's needs, expectations, and feedback. But what if your client is difficult to work with? Maybe they are vague, demanding, or constantly changing their mind. How can you communicate effectively with your team to deliver a great product without losing your sanity? Here are some tips to help you cope with a challenging client and keep your team on track.

1 Clarify the scope

One of the first things you should do when working with a new client is to define the scope of the project. What are the goals, deliverables, timeline, and budget? What are the roles and responsibilities of each party? What are the assumptions and constraints? Having a clear scope document can help you avoid misunderstandings, scope creep, and unrealistic expectations. Make sure you and your team review the scope with the client and get their approval before starting the work.

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Abubker abdalla,(PMP)

pmp, planning engineer
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When clarifying the project scope with your team, define objectives, deliverables, timelines, responsibilities, constraints, boundaries, and communicate changes promptly. Ensure everyone understands their role and expectations to foster collaboration, manage expectations, monitor progress, and achieve project success effectively.

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2 Set boundaries

Another way to communicate effectively with your team and a difficult client is to set boundaries. This means establishing rules and expectations for how you will communicate, collaborate, and handle feedback. For example, you can decide on the frequency, mode, and agenda of your meetings. You can also agree on how you will share your work, solicit feedback, and implement changes. Setting boundaries can help you manage your time, avoid distractions, and maintain professionalism.

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Abubker abdalla,(PMP)

pmp, planning engineer
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When dealing with a challenging client, effective communication strategies with your team include setting clear boundaries, defining roles and responsibilities, managing expectations, fostering open dialogue, and monitoring progress consistently to ensure project success despite the difficulties.

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3 Document everything

When working with a difficult client, it is crucial to document everything. This includes the scope, the agreements, the decisions, the feedback, and the changes. Documenting everything can help you keep track of the project progress, avoid confusion, and resolve disputes. It can also help you communicate effectively with your team by keeping them updated, informed, and aligned. You can use tools like Google Docs, Trello, or Slack to document and share your work with your team and your client.

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4 Empathize and educate

Sometimes, a difficult client is not intentionally trying to make your life harder. They may have different perspectives, preferences, or priorities than you. They may also lack the knowledge or experience of product design. In these cases, you can try to empathize and educate your client. Empathizing means understanding their pain points, motivations, and goals. Educating means explaining your design process, rationale, and best practices. By empathizing and educating your client, you can build trust, rapport, and respect.

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5 Negotiate and compromise

Finally, when working with a difficult client, you may have to negotiate and compromise. This means finding a balance between your design vision and your client's feedback. It also means being flexible, adaptable, and open-minded. Negotiating and compromising does not mean giving up on your design principles or quality standards. It means finding a solution that satisfies both parties and meets the project goals. You can communicate effectively with your team by involving them in the negotiation and compromise process and getting their input and support.

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Jesca Bard

Senior Product Designer at Atlassian | Passionate about AI Ethics
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Avoid letting perfect be the enemy of good. Your clients are not likely to understand the product design process as well as you do — that's why they've hired you to do the job. However, they still want to feel heard and that their needs are being met. Listen to what they are saying to you; do they need your help in understanding why you're doing a certain task? Do they feel concerned about your timelines? Is there a gap in the problem space they are unaware of? Look for ways you can adjust your work based on their feedback to build your client's trust. If a long-term working relationship with this difficult client is important to you, then you will need to decide where you will accept compromise.

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6 Here’s what else to consider

This is a space to share examples, stories, or insights that don’t fit into any of the previous sections. What else would you like to add?

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You're working with a difficult client. How can you communicate effectively with your team?

1

2

3

4

5

6

1 Clarify the scope

2 Set boundaries

3 Document everything

4 Empathize and educate

5 Negotiate and compromise

6 Here’s what else to consider

Product Design

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You're working with a difficult client. How can you communicate effectively with your team?

1

2

3

4

5

6

1 Clarify the scope

2 Set boundaries

3 Document everything

4 Empathize and educate

5 Negotiate and compromise

6 Here’s what else to consider

Product Design

Rate this article

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