In the world of usability, there are many fatal flaws – but one argument that stands out above all others is summed up by “who do I listen to?”  Any of us that are worth their weight in salt dwell on different backgrounds and experience – but one common thread is that our opinions have been carved from our days in troubleshooting just why people are (or are not) using our sites the way that they should be used.

We all know that we have many bosses (and their opinions) to answer to.  Owners and stake holders don’t want their investments to fail, so they will give you every opinion that seems to make a modicum of sense to them (including those of their sister’s boyfriend’s cousin’s uncle’s former roommate twice removed because they made a site with Hot Dog for their cat in the late 90′s).   Management teams have their projections and goals, so they will give you every opinion on how to promote and highlight products that they are getting pressured with.  Don’t forget that your IT staff is most certainly going to tell you that you should highlight the new widget that is scheduled for launch next month – and the sales staff is going to tell you to downplay the same tool because it contradicts their opening scripts.  Then we have all of our user research data that is contradicting all of the preceding, telling you “just redesign the site – it’s far less painful – the users still aren’t seeing any of the purchase links at all”.

So within the normal daily hubbub, we are tasked with finding out which lines to walk, which to ignore and which ones didn’t even get brought up over the water cooler.  Chances are that the entire time that we are trying to figure out what works and what doesn’t, our instincts are screaming in agony.  Granted, the instincts are what keep us on our toes, but how often do we get so enchanted by our instincts that we find our instincts getting in the way of progress?

The simple fact is that if we want to draft a paycheck – we have to suck it up and forget everything that we know within usability. Right?  In order to make the stake holders, managers and former roommates happy then we should just do what we’re told.  So, just ignore your gut and go with what’s drafted in front of you.  It makes life easier, and you will keep your job.

I did mention before that I love the works of Jonathan Swift, right?

The grim reality is that we can’t please everyone – but the one that we will least often satisfy is our instinct.  The best that you can do is find the common lines in front of you and work them into a commonality that is close to your goal – driving sales.  So how do you do it? Paint an entire picture that is all inclusive.  Try taking all of the opinions, measures and counter measures into your picture.  Show the managers, owners, former roommates and even yourself where you fall in the user statistics.  If a check out button is proving itself well placed and highly visible it may not need to be changed despite internal opinions.  If the user statistics are showing that your featured items are being noticed, but no one cares, it may be time to update the supporting art and content around the product instead of its placement.

Above all else, if someone is only giving feedback in your statistics (including the internal opinion) that states “it sucks” without knowing why – it doesn’t necessarily mean that it’s time to redesign.  It may just mean that the person who thinks it sucks doesn’t like the color blue.