How we run a design review
A good review ends with clear decisions, not a longer list of opinions. The format does most of the work.
Mara Elsen
Editor
Design reviews fail in predictable ways. Everyone comments on the colour of a button while the structural problem sits untouched, and the meeting ends with fifteen notes and no decision.
State the question first
Every review opens with one sentence: what are we deciding today. If the question is whether the flow makes sense, feedback on spacing is out of scope and can be said so kindly. Narrow questions get useful answers.
Silence at the start
Five minutes of quiet reading before anyone speaks. It stops the loudest voice from framing the conversation, and it gives people who think slowly a fair chance to arrive with something considered.
End with owners
Every decision leaves the room with a name and a date attached. Anything that cannot get either was not really a decision, and it goes back on the list for next week.
