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prettywordsyouleft · 6 years

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The Only Choice

Summary: As the son of the opposition, you had been raised to hate Kim Jongdae. You had never expected to actually marry him one day though.

Pairing: Kim Jongdae x reader

Genre: arranged marriage au / enemies to lovers au

A/N: thank you @trishmarieco for requesting this! I admittedly had a few ideas for how this could go, and in the end this is the idea that won. I’m hopeful you enjoy it!

Word count: 6553

Your marriage was the event of the year. Not only was it glamorous in every way, boasting a large A-list of affluent attendees and the most expensive designer labelled clothing, you had all the press lined up just trying to catch a glimpse of what they could write or snap photos of that would end up on the front page of every newspaper and magazine cover tomorrow morning. Everything had gone so well, from the I do’s to the reception speeches. Everyone who was anyone would have tales to share about this wedding for weeks on end. You were the faces of the merger between two super companies that shook the entire nation by storm.

By morning, everyone would be talking positively about how your parents had gained the upper hand by joining forces with Kim Industries. There would be no opposition worth fighting now, as they had single-handedly taken that away with your union to the youngest Kim son, Jongdae. Everything was so picture perfect that no one would be talking about how long at war your family had been with the Kim’s anymore. Instead of the headlines wondering who would take out the top spot for the most innovative design of the year, they would now proclaim how much money this marriage has accumulated for both families so far, and how stocks will continue to soar.

In theory, this was the best move for everyone. Even you had to admit it was a well-played card no one had ever considered until three months ago. But your life wasn’t theory based. You had to live it, and well, the last person you wanted to be married to was Kim Jongdae.

From when you were born until that fateful moment three months ago, the only thing you had heard from your father was how much he hated the CEO of Kim Industries. You had grown up with the belief their family was your rival in every way, and you had been a pawn in continuing this trend, competing against Jongdae your entire life. You went to the same schools, you studied at the same university upon graduation, and you shared similar skills in sport. You were on par with him in every way, and now he was your husband. Any other girl would kill for your spot with the handsome man. You half hoped they would just so you could escape this newly made hell. There was no way you were a perfect match for Jongdae and even he had voiced multiple times now that you would never be his first choice as a wife. Yet just as you had, he had put on the best performance of his life at your side tonight. Actually, since the beginning of this scheme, Jongdae had done his part exceptionally well in fooling the nation that you had both fallen madly in love with each other, enabling your parents to push their decades of a feud aside to support your blossoming love. They would merge the companies together instead of battling it out in every aspect. The media had eaten it up and even those in the circles around you had stopped being suspicious of this being a plan all along. It was so well executed that had you not been aware of how fake and awkward the intimacy between you was all along, you would believe that in the pictures snapped of you on all your outlandishly public dates were coming from real passion and not perfect acting.

How long should you both have to act though? The elders in this scheme had gotten what they wanted. The attention of the nation and complete control of the industry. Money would pile up so much that you wouldn’t know what to do with it. You didn’t care for money, for fame, for stability in business anymore though. You held the same dream as most people – to marry for love, to raise children that bore yours and your husband’s resemblance and live the rest of your time on Earth happy and fulfilled by what you could achieve as a person. The scheme had robbed you of such pleasures. The idea of having children with Jongdae was laughable, considering how being physically close to him made you tense and irritable. You might now be his wife, but there was no inclination for you to consummate this marriage. Your parents had sold you off to the highest bidder, however, they had no say on what you did or didn’t do with your womb. You would draw the line there indefinitely.

Besides, Jongdae seemed to share the same thought process. “Ah good, this suite has two bedrooms. I’ll take the master and you have the spare. There’s no way I’m sharing with you.”

“Why do you get the master?” you asked, heading towards the door of the largest room in the plush hotel suite you had just arrived at. Jongdae blocked you from entering. “Move, today has been the most stressful and exhausting day of my life and I want to rest.”

“So do I, and I said I would have this room first,” he mentioned pettily, folding his arms firmly across his chest.

“You’re an adult, there is no such thing as calling shotgun between respectable human beings.” You rolled your eyes. “Ah, I made a mistake, where would I find anything worthy of respect within you?”

“I’ve had more than enough of you today, wife.”

“Don’t insult me with that title,” you spat and Jongdae smirked. “We are merely the receipt of a transaction made by our parents. There’s no need to believe in anything we uttered today.”

“At least we can agree there,” Jongdae said and then smiled firmly. “But because you took my last name, and this hotel belongs to my family, you’ll just have to toddle on off that way to the other bedroom.”

Before you could refute anything, Jongdae was firmly enclosed behind the door of the bedroom, locking it for effect. You groaned and stomped over to the spare room, and threw yourself down on the bed in frustration.

Just how on earth could you get used to being married to your enemy?

You blinked several times, trying to decipher what your father had just said to you. He had called you into his office, almost bouncing off the walls with excitement. He was always like this when something big was happening at work and you had been waiting in anticipation for what he had to say. As someone working your way up the ranks within the company your father owned on your own merits, you had a great deal of interest in how things were run. One day it would be yours to oversee, after all.

But what he had just spoken of had you seriously reconsidering everything you had been working towards. “What did you just say?”

“Kim Industries and our company will become one in just over three month’s time. And you will be the reason we can do so!” he told you again, smiling generously.

“H-how? I’m only a mere member of staff here-”

“Y/N, you know you’re expected for greater things than that office job, right? You are barely tolerated by the other staff there because they don’t want to get fired if they upset you. It’s time for you to play within the big leagues where you belong. And I’ve found you the best partner to do so.”

The information he had given you about your role stung, but you were too confused by what your father was talking about to really allow it to settle within your mind. “W-who?”

“Kim Jongdae, of course.” Your father rounded his large oak desk and came over to the plush chair across from where you sat. He grinned again. It was unfathomable; you had only ever seen this man scowl in disgust at mentioning such a name. Had you stepped into another universe when you came into this room? Or perhaps you had fallen ill. They were much more plausible options than the spectacle before you.

“Dad, are you feeling well?” you asked weakly and he chuckled.

“Never been better, baby girl! Why hadn’t I thought of this earlier when we started looking at suitors for you, I’m not sure. But I’m glad we have now! This is perfect.”

“Suitors? For me?” Your mind was reeling. You were a smart woman, and your brain was already lining up his words effortlessly inside your brain. But you wanted to refuse them immensely. This was your sworn enemy he was talking of! It all sounded nonsensical and your head began to pound with the effort.

“You can’t expect to remain single for the rest of your life. You knew your mother and I were looking at marriage for you this year. And now we’ll have one.”

“Dad,” you said weakly, your eyes wide with fear. “Can you hear yourself? You just said Kim Jongdae is a perfect match for me. We’ve hated each other since kindergarten. You were the happiest person on the planet when I accidentally lobbied a tennis ball right into his face and he sported a bruised eye for two weeks. Surely, you’ve gone mad.”

“Maybe I have, but there’s no better acquisition for this company than Kim Industries.”

“So you’ll sell me off to the highest buyer, is that what this is?!”

“Y/N, can’t you see the good in this?! Business wise this is the best thing that could happen to us. Your life would be set for the rest of your days!”

“My life was already set. And what about what I want? I don’t want to marry Jongdae. Heck, I’d rather marry a monkey before I marry him!”

“From what I read about him before, he’s actually a monkey in the zodiac sign, so maybe you can marry both.”

“This isn’t time for joking around,” you huffed and the smile faltered from your father’s face. Instead, it was replaced by a look you knew all too well, his business face. You shook your head incredulously. “I won’t marry him. Everyone knows how much we hate the Kim’s. Don’t you think the reporters will see right through this scheme of yours? And it is so unlikely that your opposition would even agree-”

“We’ve been in discussions all week long about it. For the first time in thirty-seven years, we actually agreed on something. Isn’t it wonderful?”

“Nightmarish,” you corrected.

“Y/N, I know you feel vindicated. I am sure you want to fight this completely. But the adults have agreed here and you will be married with or without your say in it. I must say, it would be far easier for you to just go along with the plan. Refusing this will only make you miserable.”

You stared at the man you had believed to be fair and honest your entire life. Whilst he was being honest with you right now about what he wanted, you felt as if you didn’t know your father at all anymore.

Despite your constant refusal, plans were made and expectations were high of your first performance. You had always been a filial daughter and your public image was a positive one. If you played up now, there would be a lot of damage to your career. More than you’d like to endure. Your goals as a businesswoman relied on your reputation to remain intact.

Even if everything surrounding you was putting you to the greatest test yet.

“Do you honestly believe anyone is going to see this as fact?” you scoffed as your mother flitted around you, smoothing out your outfit. You rolled your eyes at her efforts, soon swatting her away. The buzzing in your head was more than enough to deal with, let alone her hovering. “Everyone in this nation knows Jongdae and I are rivals. No one will believe we are in love.”

“On this first outing together, of course not sweetie,” your mother agreed, smiling at you through the reflection of the mirror. “It will spark curiosity for what you are both doing together though, and that’s what we need. For people to show interest.”

“This all seems ridiculous, why can’t you just merge the companies without needing a marriage to do so?!”

“Enemies don’t just join hands without a sacrifice in between,” the older woman said with a sigh, her eyes for the first time showing signs of sympathy. Towards the daughter she had raised so lovingly to be bold and courageous. The emotions dispersed quickly and you could see now that she viewed you as a necessary evil for the greater good.

You still couldn’t accept this was what you needed to do with your life.

“Well, are you ready for the next two hours of being completely sickened to your stomach?” Jongdae greeted with a forced smile and you swallowed roughly as he sat down at the table in the middle of the bustling restaurant. You had hoped for something more natural for your first date, but the longer you sat across from Jongdae in such a public setting, you realised it was a good idea. That way, you could both sabotage this plan from going any further.

“In your company, anything is possible.”

“I’m surprised you turned up, I heard you were throwing the biggest toddler tantrum over this,” he mused as he picked up the menu casually, and you rolled your eyes dramatically. “What did Daddy promise you today? A new pony? A shopping spree? A trip to Paris?”

“This is why I really didn’t want to sit here tonight. You have no idea about what excites me. Further, I wasn’t bribed to come here, I know that new sports car out there though was the prize for you turning up,” you mentioned sweetly and Jongdae grunted, not denying your claim either. For a moment, you both focused on perusing the menu and ordering with smiles on your faces when the server came over to your table.

Once your meals were in front of you both, you looked quickly over at Jongdae as he cut his steak into small bite-sized portions. It irked you that he had chosen the same meal as you had. Taking a deep breath, you squared your shoulders. “Want to break free?”

“Why? The food here is delicious,” he said, his hands moving too quickly for you to keep up. The plate that was in front of you that you had barely touched was soon whisked away and replaced with his one, the cut steak now mocking you much like his gaze was. Jongdae smiled in pleasure. “Look, I even helped you and your juvenile self out by cutting it nice and small. Try not to choke on my efforts.”

You could think of many things to choke and your eyes narrowed on his neck for a split second. What kind of game was he playing at? Looking around yourself, you became aware of the further attention your table now held, the women at a table nearby all swooning at how Jongdae had cut up your meat for you. It irked you greatly; you didn’t need help with such a thing. Your hands that had fallen to your lap when he moved suddenly before now clenched up in fists.

“So you have no interest in stopping this ludicrous plan. You actually want to marry me?”

Jongdae’s gaze snapped to yours. “Don’t flatter yourself.”

“So we can agree neither of us wants this. So, why don’t we-”

“All the same, my goal isn’t our parents,” he mentioned airily as he cut his steak neatly. He smiled down at his efforts. “It’s to see just how far I can push you.”

“What?”

“I don’t need to worry about the wedding, Y/N. We won’t make it that far because you find the idea of being near me so impossible to endure. I am rather relaxed about this all.”

“You’re bluffing,” you stated and Jongdae arched an eyebrow at you. You blinked a couple of times. “Are you challenging me?”

“Why would I need to? You won’t cope with any of this. You’re barely eating a meal with me. The press will need more than that; they’ll need physical interaction and adoration from us both. You cannot act in my presence so how will you even stand a chance, hm?”

“Are you done yet?” You folded your arms across your chest and smirked. Jongdae shrugged as he continued to eat. “Your lack of faith in my abilities is truly tragic.”

“Says the one who can’t even share a simple meal with me without fussing,” he pointed out and you glanced down at the food you hadn’t touched yet. You speared a piece of the meat he had cut for you and smiled.

You wouldn’t allow him to gloat for long. It would be him running to his father to cancel the wedding first.

Over the next month, you met with Jongdae often. You had been on a variety of dates, each one more intense than the previous one. When Jongdae had first grabbed your hand as you strolled in a park together, you had to resist the knee-jerk reaction to shove him off for touching you without permission to do so. On the next date, it was you pushing his boundaries by snuggling into his side as you watched the ballet. He had taken it too far on the last date by pecking your hand as he dropped you off at work after sharing sushi for lunch. It left you fuming and you were determined to end him today. You couldn’t take any more of being in his company.

And the longer your museum date progressed, the further convinced you were to end this fake relationship. His smarminess had reached an all-time high and every gentle touch along the small of your back grated you further. When you got back into his car, you wound down your window and glanced out irritably. “You’re feisty today, Y/N.”

“Wouldn’t you be too if you were stuck with the most obnoxious person on Earth?” you muttered and Jongdae chuckled.

“Well, do I seem feisty to you? Since the same could be said about you.”

You spotted a familiar sighting from what you had gotten used to on these dates and smiled to yourself, your idea would finally come into fruition today. Turning to Jongdae, you grabbed at his face hurriedly. He jerked back at your advance “What are you doing?!”

“Are you afraid?” you wondered, knowing you had the most opportune angle for a perfect photo. Leaning in so close that your lips were almost flush with his, you tilted your head to the side. With you up this close, Jongdae froze. You smirked triumphantly. “Seems like you are.”

“Are you attempting to kiss me right now? Because you’ve missed my actual lips.”

“I don’t need to kiss you for this to be snapped as one.”

Jongdae’s eyes were dark when you pulled back and sat in your seat with ease. He rushed to wind up the window before continuing. “Was that meant to scare me off?”

“I’m over this game with you, let’s just give up.”

“You just gave the press more than we ever have. It was you who leaned over and fake kissed me. I’m impressed; you’ve clearly wasted so many years watching all those silly dramas on TV to think of pretending to kiss someone.”

“I guess I have put you in a bind, Kim Jongdae,” you agreed, still content with your decision. He had been the one pointing to various sculptures and paintings proclaiming they all looked better than you did. He had even joked about marrying a plump statue over you since you lacked in the chest department. With how much he wanted to escape you, he sure hadn’t done anything about it yet. You had seen the fear in his dark gaze though, and it made you feel at ease. He would end this tonight with his parents.

Instead, he rang to plan your next date. You blinked. “Our what?”

“Did you really think I would be put out, Y/N? You surprised me, I’ll give you that.”

“You don’t want to marry me, Jongdae!”

“You’re not my first choice for a wife, you’re right.”

“So then end it.”

“And be the one who has to deal with both our parents? No thanks.”

You groaned unattractively. “You coward.”

“At least if I was to ever think of using kissing as a publicity stunt, I’d go through with the actual thing.”

“Don’t you dare think of doing such a thing!” you hissed and his hearty laughter filled the receiver. You hung up on him, frustrated that he was holding out just to see you crumble.

Dates continued in the same masochistic manner, both not wanting to be at the other’s side but unable to not be there either. Jongdae hadn’t kissed you, thank goodness, but he had definitely increased his skinship and it was making you very uncomfortable. Your skin would burn from where he held you and you constantly felt on edge whenever you were with him, wondering what he’d do next. You had been so confident with the fake kiss scene in the car, but it had gotten you nowhere. You were already in your final fitting for your custom made wedding dress and a cocktail dress for the reception. Everything you tried to stop seemed to roll ahead with everyone not listening to you. Eventually, you were left standing in a dress that was far too beautiful for such an event. Something as gorgeous as this should only be worn when you could walk down the aisle to someone you actually loved.

“Oh the groom is here!” the designer crooned and tried to usher you behind the large velvet curtain so your dress would be unseen to him. You rushed behind there, panting heavily as you dropped the yards of gorgeous fabric back down so you could balance yourself. Then you frowned. Why had you done such a thing? The jinx of seeing the dress before the wedding might work in your favour. You went to move out again but flinched when someone joined you behind the curtain instead.

“What are you doing?!” you whispered sternly and Jongdae merely eyed you from head to toe. You blushed, not understanding why he was paying so much attention to you right now. A small part of you hoped he liked what he saw. You squashed the mindless thought immediately.

“Don’t stress, I’m only meant to not see the dress if we’re hoping for a positive union, right? I thought of all people you would have stood proudly before me to put as many omens on this gorgeous gown as you could.”

You couldn’t help but bite your lip when he used the word gorgeous. Was your mind weak today because of the magical feeling of being in such a dress? Clearing your throat, you placed your hands on your waist. “All the same, I find it hard enough to be in this dress, let alone be with you whilst I’m in it.”

“Call it a rehearsal.” Jongdae continued to look at the details intently. “You’ll have to do the real thing very soon.”

“Don’t remind me.”

He smirked when his gaze finally lifted up to your face. “We need to rehearse a lot of things for this to be the best performance of our life, right?”

“Because we’re totally going through with this,” you refuted weakly and Jongdae chuckled.

“You look every part of a blushing bride. I think you’re ready to marry me more than you admit.”

“Honestly,” you said dryly and turned away from the mischief within his gaze.

This was your first mistake. Before you realised it, his arms had slipped through yours still poised on your hips and you snapped your face towards his right as his lips found yours. Your eyes grew wide and you didn’t know what to do for a moment.

Jongdae pulled away and licked at his lips. “There, we even practised that.”

“You had no need to kiss me! We’re not in public at all and you have zero permission to do such a thing to me!”

“What about at our wedding?” he wondered, his gaze lingering over the detailed bodice of the dress. “Should I just kiss you on the cheek and call it a day?”

“If we get married.”

Jongdae sighed. “When.”

And it really had happened. Whether you wanted to admit it or not, you both ran out of time and excuses. You had tried to run away pathetically the night before the wedding, yet you were there bright and early for your salon appointment. Somehow you had lost your voice that you had been so loudly using in the beginning of this scheme. Now, you just sat there and did everything that was asked of you.

And when Jongdae was signalled to kiss you, it felt like it went on forever. With your eyes closed, and focusing just on kissing him back, you felt the build up in the back of your throat. Every sensation in your body was awakened with the kiss and it took you immense effort not to ball your hands up in fists as you locked lips with Jongdae for too long. When he pulled away and smiled at you generously, you were stunned. He looked so happy to finally have you as his wife and for a moment you almost believed he truly felt that way.

Almost.

Surprisingly, it wasn’t that hard to get used to living with your husband. Maybe it was because your newlywed home that your parents had organised was just so large that you didn’t have much reason to cross paths. You had your own chambers and he had his. Of course, you couldn’t avoid him most days. After all, there were endless interviews, events, and work to do. But at least when at home, you could relax a little bit.

Most of the time.

“Eat with me.”

You looked up from your computer and rolled your eyes, going back to the project you were in charge of. Although you weren’t happy with how you had gotten to this point in your career, having more of a voice in the workplace actually fulfilled you more than you had expected. You really liked going to work these days.

“Y/N,” he whined and you continued to ignore him. Jongdae stepped over to your desk and sighed heavily. “I don’t want to eat another meal alone.”

“So eat with one of the in-house helpers.”

“I’ve been doing that for two weeks now!”

You smiled. “Then you’re not eating alone. They are people, just like you and I.”

“They have no idea about the new spring collection launch I’m working on. You do.”

“So you don’t want to eat with me, you want to pick my brain,” you concluded, finally looking up from your computer. You bridged your fingers together on your desk and smiled again. “Oh dear, what to do? I have no interest in sharing my plans with you to steal.”

“Why would I steal something we’re both working on?”

He had you there and you groaned. Glancing down at the proposal again, you relented. You had questions for him yourself that you could get to over dinner.

And this trend continued. Most nights you shared dinner whilst discussing plans and changes that were needed for your first project to run smoothly. You had to admit, majoring from the same degree in business administration meant you did have a balanced work ethic together. It became more evident to you when you were at work, seeking him out after meetings to discuss the happenings together. Everyone surrounding you claimed your marital harmony at home had to be the spark behind this amazing collaboration.

You just knew how his mind worked in a business setting and yours complimented his. That was all.

But you had to admit, some days it felt like the lines were blurring. You would smile at him without any forced nature behind it, and when one of his projects took a major production stumble, you had genuinely been supportive for Jongdae. He had worked so hard and you knew how important it was to him to succeed.

When the launch was finally released and sold out within a day, you had rushed into his office, positively beaming. “We did it!”

“It’s all sold out, already?!” he asked excitedly and you nodded earnestly, Jongdae rounding his table so fast and hugging you tightly. You clung to him for a moment, your elation clouding your mind. And when you finally realised where you were, you didn’t get much chance to pull away, Jongdae’s mouth crashing down on yours.

You could have pushed him off, reminding him that this was a marriage of convenience. But the spark of arousal was instantaneous and you leaned into the heated embrace, Jongdae spinning you around and pressing you up against his desk as his lips hungrily explored your neck, his hand slipping down your body and hiking one of your legs up around him. You moaned in pleasure and then a knock on the door broke the spell immediately.

You stared back at Jongdae, wondering just how such an embrace had occurred between you. And why it didn’t feel as bad as you had thought it always would.

You were on edge with each other respectively for a week after the office incident and your mind wouldn’t stop taking you back to that moment in time frequently. Why had he kissed you? His grip on your body felt like he wanted to have you. Yet you were someone he had always claimed he’d never crave in that way. You were so confused that you went into his study after work, too wound up and needing answers.

“Y/N,” he said tenderly and you blinked, wondering why your name sounded so good falling from his lips. He smiled weakly. “Are you okay?”

“No, I’m not.”

“Oh.” Jongdae nodded softly and closed the lid on his laptop. “What’s wrong?”

“Why did you kiss me last week? Why did you have to take me in your arms like that and, and…” you trailed off, feeling your cheeks grow hot. “We don’t have that kind of relationship. We hate each other.”

Jongdae was silent for a moment, staring at nothing in particular. You were irked by his lack of a response until he gazed back at you. The power within his umber eyes almost made you lose your footing. “I don’t hate you.”

“What?”

“I’ve never hated you,” he mentioned and you gaped at your husband.

“Yes, we’ve always hated each other for as long as I can remember.”

“No, you hated me. You’ve always hated me. I never understood why.”

You shook your head slowly. “Because our families are rivals.”

“Is that it? I can’t hate someone because my parents are competitive towards their opposition.”

“You can too; you were competitive towards everything I did!”

Jongdae nodded. “Some things yeah, because you rubbed me the wrong way. But never because I hated you. Don’t confuse competitive with hatred, it’s two very different emotions.”

You looked around the room, trying to decipher what he was planning now. There had to be a catch, he was never this honest with you outside of work. Was there a hidden camera somewhere? Recording you so he could catch something to hold over you in the future? You were decidedly cautious but listened to his words all the same.

“Look at you, even now you’re uncomfortable with me.”

“Can you blame me? We went from being enemies to a married couple who now share a department in the office. I don’t know what to think of you.”

“Without what your parents have influenced you to do, what do you think of me?” You blinked rapidly. Jongdae sighed heavily. “Have you ever once thought of me as someone with the same goals as you? As someone who matches you as opposed to being someone you need to outdo?”

You didn’t answer, your mind racing to figure out what he meant.

Jongdae groaned. “I have. I noticed your ambitions. I realised how level-headed you are in a situation of crisis. You’re intelligent. You treat everyone as equals, apart from me, of course. You have compassion for bettering this world we live in. It touches me knowing you’re such an amazing person.”

“I made you think all those things?” you asked and he nodded. You didn’t buy it entirely. “Then why did you always tease me? Why did you make things harder for me every step along the way?”

“You wouldn’t allow me to be anything but your rival, so I admit, I played the role well. I told you I was excellent at acting, you just never wanted to believe me.”

“So you’ve been actively seeking out my company and not because you want to annoy me?” Jongdae nodded again. You shook your head. “Unbelievable.”

“Can I tell you my biggest secret yet?” he asked and you eyed him warily. He gestured to the chair you held the back of for support. “You might want to sit down.”

“This doesn’t sound safe.”

Jongdae leaned back in his own seat and took a steadying breath. “It wasn’t our parents.”

“What wasn’t our parents?” He raised an eyebrow at you and your eyes widened. “This whole thing?!”

“I’ll admit I didn’t want to marry you in the beginning. When I realised just how talented you were with business strategies during university, I knew I wanted to work with you. I was certain we could create something amazing together. When I loosely mentioned it to my Father, he laughed in my face. That your parents wouldn’t dream of letting you work with me and that he wouldn’t allow me to approach you either. There was too much of a risk if we simply combined our talents together.”

You nodded slowly, agreeing that despite your differences, you had a formidable balance in the workplace that had led to great success already. Your mind wandered back to the passionate moment in his office last week and you narrowed your gaze on his. “Then how did we end up like this?”

“In every transaction weighed with a lot of risks, giving the opponent something worthy to hold onto in case it sours is the best option, don’t you agree? You cannot have something without giving back just as much.”

“That is usual etiquette,” you mentioned and then sighed. “If your father had me as his daughter in law, my Dad couldn’t act rash and overtake your company.”

“Exactly, so I suggested it to him in a way that made him unable to refute it. And by the time it was murmured into your father’s ears, he felt as if he had come up with the idea himself. Our parents agreed with it and thus, everything else you already know about.”

You raised your hand in objection. “Wait, you got a brand new car. Why should I believe you actually wanted to marry me?”

“I had to make it seem like I didn’t actually want to marry you. I needed them to think I was against it in every way possible but for the sake of good business I would be bribed.”

“You played your own parents?” you uttered and Jongdae grimaced.

“It wasn’t that cruel. Besides, they didn’t want to listen to your objections and forced you into this. I figure they are just as guilty as I am for imposing this on you.”

“I just… this is all so much to take on,” you admitted and Jongdae smiled weakly. You then stared at him. “Wait, I’m confused. You said you didn’t want to marry me in the beginning, but then you actually did want to marry me. You claimed I wasn’t your first choice every time I argued with you. Who is your first choice? Why would you go this far just for harmony in making more money? We’re rich enough not to have joined as business partners, Jongdae.”

He didn’t answer, rubbing at his neck awkwardly instead. Your eyebrows shot up and you leaned forward in your seat. “You wanted to marry me?!”

“Well, did you not hear all the things I complimented you over?” he answered meekly, diverting his gaze. “I didn’t have a first choice. You were my only choice.”

“I was what?”

“I didn’t want to marry anyone else. Okay so I wasn’t completely sure from the beginning, but as we started dating and you kept trying to outdo me, I found you really adorable. I didn’t want to end it. And then when I saw you in your dress…” He smiled to himself and you were certain he was revisiting the day behind the velvet curtain in the dressmaker’s studio. “I knew then.”

“Knew what?”

“That I loved you,” he confessed. “That I had loved you for some time too.”

“You really mean that?” you questioned, feeling yourself grow anxious. “I’m asking you if you honestly believe you love me.”

“Being your husband is something I’m happy to be. I love you, Y/N.”

You shifted across to Jongdae faster than your mind was working and kissed him passionately, surprising you both. He pulled you onto his lap and held you close, his mouth hotly exploring yours. The kiss melded from one into the next until you were utterly breathless. When you finally pulled back, you stared into his eyes carefully. Had they always been this warm? Had Jongdae always been looking at you like this? It made you feel so feeble to think whilst you had followed the trend of your parents, Jongdae had given you the chance to be yourself in his eyes. He didn’t judge you as part of the opposition. He searched for ways to separate you from the feud. You felt guilty for only coming to realise his strengths recently. Although, when you looked back over the years, there had been reason for your jealousy – Jongdae was a talented person.

And he was your husband now.

“Do you kiss everyone who admits they love you like that?” he teased and you grinned, shrugging lightly. “Hey! You can’t act like that to me. Not after how much I’ve done to get us to this point.”

“Which is what?”

“You not looking at me like an enemy,” he answered and you nodded softly. “To actually see me apart from our families, and to work alongside me on the first project at work. You don’t know how happy I am right now.”

“Do you think you could show me how much?” you wondered airily and Jongdae smirked, suddenly hoisting you up as he stood up.

“Are you sure you want to challenge me with this? I mean, you tried to take me on in the past and look where we ended up. We’re married and you didn’t want that.”

You kissed his lips before slinging your arms around his neck and smiled down at him. “Well, this is something I might be able to excel in. Let’s see who can outdo who now.”

_________________

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downtheaxon · 6 years

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hello friends and followers - two days ago, I found out I won (earned?) the biggest/most prestigious phd scholarship in canada (a vanier cgs)

other than two days of celebration (and exhaustion, as my masters/phd is always way more work than I anticipate), I have a lot of complicated feelings about this:

tw: frank discussion of psychiatry, including depression, suicidal ideation, and self harm

firstly, as you know, I’ve been struggling with my mental health for most of my adolescent and adult life. I recently (read: monday) brought back journals from my childhood home to my apartment in montreal and the earliest mention of suicidal ideation that I could find dates from around my 13th birthday i.e. over 10 years ago. and that breaks my heart.

9 days before I found out I won the vanier, I had my first psychiatry intake appointment. I spent an hour discussing essentially everything that has brought me to this point, and couldn’t shake what the doctor who referred me there a few weeks prior had said: why have you never seen a psychiatrist?

I’m more aware now (than ever) how long I suffered in absolute silence, with no care, and really truly believed my suffering was self-made, deserved, and normal for me. I didn’t get any form of psychiatrist help until after I left my abusive relationship in the winter of 2014 shortly after I turned 20 (and I am so so grateful for the relationship I built with my psychologist, who I still see).

even with a history of suicidal ideation and attempt (singular), extensive history of self harm (all kinds), mental illness in the immediate family, unstable/traumatic upbringing, clear social isolation, obvious blatant unhappiness, no one thought to take mini-me to see a doctor. I exclude the time I briefly met with my brother’s psychiatrist shortly after I turned 18, who suggested I might be a borderline personality ten minutes into meeting me but didn’t follow up on this.

I always thought this was my fault and that my feelings towards myself were justified. when I was young, my self harm made sense - I deserved to be hurt (and others hurt me without consequence, so clearly I was the designated punching bag). my abusive relationship reaffirmed this, and a circuit in my brain intensified and fully, at my core, believes that I am worthless, awful, deserving of pain. and that’s really scary to me because now, at age 24, after years of therapy and self-compassion, I know on many levels that that isn’t true. but on other levels, I still believe it.

why am I talking about this? because after the elation of winning the vanier, I was hit with incomparable sadness. I don’t deserve the vanier - not only that, but it would be better if I reject it so that it goes to the next person on the waitlist, someone more deserving as me. my brain even ventured into see, if you’d killed yourself earlier in the year, then the next person on the list would have it and it wouldn’t go to waste on you. along with this thought came a profound urge to self harm and destroy myself.

academia induces enough imposter syndrome as is. couple that with a mental illness, and the toxicity becomes overwhelming and unbreathable.

don’t get me wrong, I’m happy. I’m very very happy. this honour opens many doors for me, be it the financial freedom to afford healthcare for my cat if she needs it, take my partner on a trip to europe, move into a bigger apartment, and and get a monthly massage (or a nintendo switch - or both), as well as the exclusive trainings and professional travel opportunities that are included with the award.

but I don’t feel like I deserve it - while also feeling like I do. knowing I ranked in the bottom 5, knowing I got it by the skin of my teeth (is that the expression?), also knocks me down a peg (and trust me, I don’t need to be knocked down a peg.

I don’t know what my point is with all this. my point is a few things: my partner is moving in in two weeks, after two years of a long distance relationship. that’s extremely exciting and makes me feel like the luckiest person in the world. I’ll be financially secure in my phd (thanks to the vanier), which also makes me feel lucky. after a trip next month, I’ll start SSRIs which will hopefully take the edge off my pain and that also makes me feel lucky. a lot is happening all at once.

I guess my point is this: my illness feels more central to my life than my phd does. and my phd is very important to me, but it always comes second, and always exsits within the context of my illness. I prioritize therapy and doctor’s appointments and good eating habits and regular sleep and time for myself over experiments, because I can’t exist otherwise.

my other thought and point: I’ve suffered a lot in my life, and perhaps it’s pretentious to say that I’ve suffered more than others my age in my program but it feels that way most days. I’m exhausted from all this suffering. the vanier feels like a life raft in this sea of difficulty and trouble.

another thought: I’ve always used school to cope. when things got worse at home, my grades got better. after I figured out how to take tests, it always felt like something I could control. friendships were hard, dealing with home was hard, loving myself was hard, but school was always easy. and I know that that isn’t as common of an experience and am so grateful that that was mine. because being good at school is what saved me - it’s what allowed me to move out (to do a phd), to build a social circle, and to reach financial independence and stability.

a last thought: I never know how public to be about my struggles in my immediate academic circle. I wish I were braver. I’m realizing slowly that visibility does not have to be self-indulgent - I wish I knew someone in an academic position above mine who talked about succeeding in academia in spite of a long history of mental health struggles and trauma. I wish I did more, outreach wise. I’m good at this one-on-one, and I’m proud of how good of a mentor I can be to my students, both academically and personally. but, on a bigger scale....

no one wants to hear you cry about the grief inside your bones.

thank you for reading, should you have gotten this far. I’m submitting my phd proposal today, in order to pass my comps/proposal at the end of april. that’s terrifying and exciting all at once. I don’t know if I belong in academia, I don’t know if I deserve the success I have, but when I feel well, I want to take full advantage of what luck and opportunity have given me.

I keep telling my partner: we’ve had enough unhappiness. it’s time for the happy times of our life to start. (although I am terrified of something awful happening, because my experience suggests just that).

I’m grateful and I’m struggling. I’m successful and I’m traumatized. I’ve spent months trying to reconcile these two opposing states, and perhaps the vanier (which acknowledges my extracurriculars, my outreach, all reflective of my need to teach, mentor and decrease mental illness related stigma) is doing just that. or perhaps it creates a larger divide. it’s hard to say.

feel free to send me a message should you want to chat about this. I’ll be working on my phd candidacy presentation all day (what an odd terrifying wonderful bizarre exciting and frightening life).

#personal #imposter syndrome #mental health in academia #phd

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digital-strategy · 7 years

Link

http://ift.tt/2yjPhJf

Time and time again, the discussion comes up. Building links to your homepage can be challenging, building links to category pages on an ecommerce site, however, is a totally different universe of hard.

Trawling through the backlink profiles on everyday retail websites while I was researching this blog post made me feel pretty sad.

You come across a lot of rubbish.

It shouldn’t all work but a lot of it does. Enough to hide the stuff that doesn’t. It’s been obvious for years that large online retailers especially are being duped into paying for volumes of links from Mummy blogs on blogspot domains and product review sites for almost no reason whatsoever. Unsuspecting SEO teams are spending hundreds of thousands a year for links that are essentially making their jobs harder.

All this in a time when less needs to be more.

Often, you’ll see a category page with no links ranking very well, hosted on domains with fewer links than some of their competitors, even in quite competitive search results! I have a domain that performs extremely well with a tenth of the links of the biggest competitor because, in my opinion, the engagement on its content elsewhere on the domain is really, really good. This equity seems to transfer to the commercial side of the site’s rankings, which makes sense – have good content and Google will reward the domain as a whole.

But I don’t want to be a total downer! There’s some clever stuff out there too and lots of cool tactics to build links without spending shed loads of money on nonsense.

How is it done?

As I wrote in my post about the fundamentals of link building, gaining the confidence in more challenging areas of manual link building depends on your ability to analyse the types of sites that link out in your vertical. From there, work out which link types are scalable enough to execute a worthwhile link building campaign.

To write this post I’m literally following that process: analysing what sorts of links are pointing to ecommerce category pages, telling you about it, and deriving some sort of meaningful strategy to help you build more.

That’s all a link builder does when you get down to brass tacks.

I started the research for this blog post with such optimism, but as I delved deeper and deeper into the work it dawned on me how hard it is to find category pages with decent links. When it’s run-of-the-mill, everyday stuff, I’m afraid to say the links aren’t particularly wonderful.

The bad

This page that sells diamond blades is propped up by a network of search results pages. That whole niche is poorly linked though, and they’re clearly getting away with it on the strength of the domain.

Some of the stuff you find is actually very entertaining, just for the wrong reasons.

Brian Griffin is dead. His return “would undoubtedly be one of the best Christmas gifts fans could hope for”.

Good for PR but low ROI for SEO

It’s quite easy to find stuff like this promoting individual products and their respective brand and category pages. Blogs like this are part of networks that make themselves accessible to brands looking to partner ‘with the UK’s top blogs’.

As giveaways or product reviews go, this is pretty decent one but the longevity of this tactic leaves me feeling nervous.

I discussed this with our Head of Content, Rebecca who in a previous life managed large networks of bloggers where giveaways were used as a major tactic. As Rebecca put it,

“As SEO’s we of course reverted to links as the main motivation for working with bloggers initially, however we began to realise that the real value was in their audience and influence. Though many of them didn’t have particularly impactful sites from a domain perspective, the impact of working with bloggers on digital PR campaigns with Digital PR KPIs was far more beneficial”

I suspect the ineffectiveness from an SEO point of view is a natural consequence of the fact that the blogs are part of a network, and in most cases are algorithmically easy to detect. Or they’re just all hosted on the same IP address! Cough. Blogspot. Cough.

This is better

It’s far from all bad, though. This page is getting links from caravanning forums discussing the merits of traditional silicone sealant in caravan repairs, internal bodywork repairs in classic cars and Kit cars too.

I think this kind of thing is good because it’s legitimate conversation about product on the Internet, which is what you want! These types of links often make up a large part of the typical backlink profiles of vast numbers of websites, yet we seem to think Google will reward an influx of guest posts on unrelated blogs. Hmmm.

This is nice

This page made me a feel a lot better during my research.

Nordic inspired Christmas decor ideas (redirect), websites entirely about Christmas, affiliates and so on.

Most of the links are redirects which explains this Ahrefs chart:

The tactic was working for a time, holding a P2 ranking for ‘Christmas decorations‘, a query that I imagine will peak sometime around the end of November. While I’ve been writing this article, the ranking has changed to the better populated sub category page.

Still, seasonal or themed collections pages are a nice thing to have for link building if you have:

a) nice products

b) nice photography

c) and some (relevant) linked-to pages to redirect to the new one.

For me, it’s a good call and you’d expect some communities to eat this stuff up. It’s just a shame we can’t all have nice things to promote.

A bit of keyword research yields good ideas

Debenhams have it spot on in the keyword research department. Adding ‘ideas’ into the keyword targeting on their lighting category page moves their brand much earlier up the consideration funnel.

Having a decent product photography collection, and being able to pitch your category page as an ideas page has powerful linkbuilding potential. I love the tactic of offering your photography for credit back to the source, or putting collections together for seasonal or themed articles:

Themed collections such as this and this make for credible, authentic links placed in front of a well targeted audience.

During some research I did for an interiors site, I made a note to investigate 80’s/90’s design, put together some theme collections and send individual product PR to sites like this and this with some photography and a strong story. There are heaps of ideas waiting to be discovered on Reddit.

Link building ideas for category pages

If you are challenged with building links to your category pages, try to take some inspiration from some of these tried and tested ideas:

Will the manufacturer list / link to the online retailer?

Often manufacturers and distributors have retailer location pages, and even if you don’t have a physical shop presence they’ll still link to you and send you (high converting!) traffic reasonably easily.

Make sure your products are shareable and the images are easy to embed

Themed or seasonal collections are simple to come up with once you get going. 17th century interiors? Classic car collections? Even reaching out to enthusiast and club websites with an offer to add one photo with credit will often be well received.

Consider hosting your “linkable” assets, like buyer’s guides, on the category page with a named anchor link to the content

Most retailers use buyer’s guides to get their category specific knowledge across to their customers. Instead of hosting all that content on a separate URL, host it in its own section on the category page with a named anchor link (# link) to the content and use that as a resource for outreach.

Forum monitoring (mentions of a product name or category keyword)

Build out profiles in the top forums in your space and then set up mention monitoring for any posts that may be relevant to your product or category.

Do they have a physical presence? Local towns and cities or part of a shopping centre?

If the retailer you’re working with has physical shop presence, are their websites listed? Not all the shops listed on this Shopping Centre’s page have website links. Towns and cities have lots of these types of sites to contact for links.

Does your website have an open source CMS that showcases examples?

I can’t imagine a link from Magento would do much harm to your SEO. Look at pages like this, put together a decent case study and have a go.

Offer discounts to readers of other sites’ how to guides

You might not have written your own how to guide, but they are plentiful on the internet. What about offering a discount or bundle to readers of the better how to guides in your space? I’m a keen fan of racing of all types, including sim racing. There are lots of guides like this to choose from…

Are there association links you should have, but don’t?

Like this page on the European Power Tools Association website, found quickly and easily with the right Google search query.

Use Google image search to find sites after you’ve exhausted web search

Image search results are (understandably) very different to web search results in that you’ll probably find domains and pages you couldn’t in the ordinary SERPs. You can find hundreds of potential sites that will link if you ask them to credit for using of an image of you – you’ll find things you didn’t know existed, I promise!

Capitalise on a nice design, site performance or even your site speed!

Look at collections like this if you’re confident your site design is strong. Thinking outside the box you could offer case studies on the performance of your site (I’ve never seen a collection of the fastest retail websites on the Internet).

Execute the link building fundamentals properly

If you haven’t read my link building advice on this page, take a look as your next port of call. Enjoy!

via SEOgadget.co.uk

#IFTTT #Feedly

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dawnajaynes32 · 7 years

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How to Succeed at Agile Product Design: Avoid These 3 Mistakes

By Ian Steyaert, Program Management Director at argo

Agile process has evolved into a cliché in product development nowadays, though few companies do much more than pay lip service to the concepts. To truly embrace Agile Product Design it’s important to follow four key tenets that will make any project better:

Individuals and interactions over processes and tools

Working product or software over comprehensive documentation

Customer collaboration over contract negotiation

Responding to change over following a plan

But why do these principles fail to take hold so often? It’s typically due to lack of leadership buy-in. The cultural shift required for leadership to trust a team of individuals and interactions to self-organize and work efficiently poses a real stumbling block for many organizations. Command-and-control culture still dictates following tried-and-true steps. And how can a VP confidently sign off on a budget for a product that doesn’t yet have comprehensive documentation and a thorough plan?

These questions drive the fear around adopting Agile, and frankly represent some legitimate concerns. Fear-driven behaviors undermine successful implementations and keep design teams from excelling, but if you spot the warning signs early in the process, you will have a greater opportunity of implementing a solution that gets everyone back on track.

[Related: 4 Web Technology Trends Designers Need to Focus on in 2017 | Creative Leaders—Ask Yourself These 4 Questions]

Mistake #1: Over-Controlling Your Design Team

The first product team I led ended in disaster. I felt it was my responsibility to manage people’s’ time, give them great ideas, and tell them the tasks needed to finish the job. My passion overwhelmed the project and, as a result, no one else felt ownership. While the result was a forward-looking concept that reflected hundreds of hours of work from dozens of individuals inside and outside of the company, we ultimately shelved the entire project. Only with years of hindsight can I now understand how my need to control the situation led the team to shut down and resist the success of the project.

The Solution: Give the Team Freedom to Self-Organize

Many companies espouse the practice of letting individuals self-organize (see Valve’s Employee Handbook). To some, this sounds like chaos, and it can be, particularly in young creative teams without experienced leadership. They may struggle without clear goals and role models, and no pattern to follow. Management’s knee-jerk reaction to avoid this fate often involves laying a grid on the team like misusing a Scrum process by insisting that members attend ceremonies, log tasks in JIRA, and fill out time cards. When introduced all at once, these constraints feel contrary to the instincts that make creatives talented in the first place.

What I learned: People don’t feel invested in ideas that are dictated to them. Moreover, they fail to get engaged in the project’s success.

When implementing Agile Design in your organization, fight the instinct to start off with specific processes in mind, telling team members how they must work. Instead, educate them on agile processes and gradually introduce ceremonies and processes that make sense for the team. I’ve found that once people have heard the concepts, they’re willing to give it a try.

A retrospective is often a good place to start—discussing what to “start, stop, or continue” helps every group align better. These retrospective ceremonies allow them to self-diagnose and correct team or work challenges. Let them know they’re trusted to develop solutions and processes on their own, and that there’s a support structure to help them should they want it. Praise your team’s successes, and give fact-based feedback where it’s needed. Frequent user testing and interviews can also give great input to improve the team. If you feel that this input still isn’t leading the team in the right direction, then you may have to resort to more pointed questions or even specific guidance on improving their performance.

When doing this, though, it’s important to make minimal corrections in order to get the project completed successfully. Exhaustive feedback and corrections risks making your team feel like they only did what you instructed.

Mistake #2: Under-Controlling Your Design Team

If over-controlling your team can be debilitating, than so can under-controlling as I found out. After I realized that I’d been an authoritarian manager, rather than a leader, I adjusted my style significantly. Rather than tell people what to do, I asked what they thought we should work on, and what their needs and goals were. When they said meetings were taking too much of their time, I encouraged sending email updates, or even working from home. Because our business partners were uncertain about the direction their company would take, this approach was temporarily effective: the team would explore for a while, get pushed in a strategic direction, then drift again as business priorities were reassessed. Self-motivated team members thrived, learning new skills and having a lot of fun.

But soon everyone tired of the situation. Many projects were never completed because the project lacked clear business mandates. The hard-working individuals got bored with the lack of meaningful work, and frustrated watching others doing minimal work. Several folks left to have successful careers at other companies. Under-performers weren’t motivated to improve so they had to be counseled to look for other opportunities. The laissez-faire approach wasn’t working.

The Solution: Give Designers the Structure They Need

I find that everyone craves order and predictability. Regular signposts provide the comfort needed to be creative. For students, that may mean lesson plans, worksheets, bells, and progress reports. For product design teams, Scrum practices recommend planning, review, and retrospective meetings, plus daily stand-ups. These are a great place to start, since they’re well-defined and time-tested. They provide everyone some level of predictability and organization so we’re all working from the same playbook.

Another layer of structure can come from tools, which at first glance seem like red tape—like JIRA for collaborative task management—but actually free the mind when used correctly. As David Allen’s Getting Things Done tells us: everyone gets burdened when they have too much to remember. Dumping that to-do list into an electronic tool (or notebook, whiteboard, sticky notes) gives creatives headspace to be innovative.

Using the tool you chose (and if you’re not sure which to elect, see this lively discussion on Reddit), make sure the team clearly documents what needs to be accomplished, why, and how each task or story ranks in priority. When working with an experienced team, there’s no need to tell them how the work needs to be done, or even who’s responsible—they will work that out once there’s clarity. Use daily check-ins to ensure that everyone communicates what they have or haven’t completed and understands what they’re working on next. Give them the responsibility for raising a flag if any part of the project is at risk – the entire team should be cognizant of sprint timelines. Additionally, you should allow for frequent check-ins and feedback. At argodesign we frequently review work more than once a day, and always once a week with the client or end user.

As an additional level of structure, we organize groups of design sprints into phases, since clients aren’t always prepared for a fully agile end-to-end process. We divide our timeline into a repeatable sequence of phases that allow for product design explorations and refinement, then detailed design documentation for both Engineering and Support teams, followed by ongoing implementation and support. This not only reassures stakeholders that we’ve thought through implementation and rollout thoroughly, but gives the Design team signposts throughout the project. It’s ok to explore innovative (and perhaps wacky) ideas during exploration, but during detailed design documentation, those ideas will likely be backlogged for a future product iteration.

Nearly everyone works better under constraints, including deadlines. For Agile to work for your team, you must set reasonable deadlines, parameters, and signposts, keeping limited time and resources in mind. The structure you implement should stimulate progress without becoming so restrictive that it inhibits good, creative work.

Mistake #3: Under-Communicating the Vision

When seeking necessary input from a client before fully diving into a project, it’s not uncommon to hear something like, “Isn’t that what you’re supposed to tell me? I’m paying you to design a logo, why do I have to tell you what it should look like?” To be sure, people shouldn’t tell designers what something should look like—they are there to solve that problem. But along with understanding constraints, everyone needs to deeply understand what the design should accomplish and why.

Make sure your client is clear on the company and project vision—the big picture objectives and measurables. What purpose will the product or website serve? How does it fit into overall corporate objectives? Who is the audience? What clear message should it send? If the goals or message are unclear, Design will take a long time, look muddled, or more likely both.

Too often I’ve seen clients define their design goals in such broad terms that it’s nearly impossible to derive a crisp solution: “We’re serving the needs of the enterprise, but need to appeal to consumers, too.” “We’re still working on our marketing message for this project, just lay out the pages and leave the copy for later.” Design can work with these parameters, but the results will lag, both in time and inspiration, and certainly won’t inspire users. Under these circumstances, designers often inflate timelines for what appear to be vague goals. And they’re right to do so.

The Solution: Provide Sufficient Vision and Empowerment

Clients with a strong, clear vision of their core mission, and who can articulate it concisely, are the easiest to work with. This includes not only clearly stating what Design should accomplish, but also why. The Design team should feel that they have enough inspirational guidance to make their own decisions about how to best accomplish the goal, what to prioritize, and what to set aside for later. This often brings with it an understanding of the audience — i.e. what type of users are we appealing to? What action do we want them to take, or how do we want them to feel after using this product? Designers can then use all of their skills to help accomplish these goals.

Remember to include history and context: what’s been tried before and didn’t work? Why didn’t it work? Are we willing to try again? What other departments are working on this issue and what approach are they taking? Can we collaborate with them?

Also critically important is allowing the team direct access to the end product users. Let people see the impact of their work—good and bad. Watching a consumer struggle with an engineer-design system can elicit some eye-opening revelations on how to simplify a work flow. Allow people to test what they’ve developed too, so they can make any final tweaks, and see improvements they’ve made in people’s lives. If at all possible, encourage folks to measure key objectives, or performance indicators, both before and after their work to allow for quantitative measures of progress.

Even the executive team benefits from agile milestones and a review of overall product goals. By reinforcing the objectives and progress, everyone feels a sense of accomplishment and validation of the project vision. The ceremonies present some pomp and circumstance with tangible and dependable celebrations.

In short, everyone on the team needs to know:

Who’s going to use this product?

What should they accomplish or feel about the product?

How will we measure how well we’ve succeeded?

Succeed with Agile Product Design

Agile provides an excellent philosophy for teams of all types. Although designers have unique skills and a critical role in developing usable products, they react just as positively to clear goals, transparency regarding resources, and an environment that empowers them to excel.

So how you can succeed with Agile Design?

Give teams the freedom needed to self-organize by practicing balanced leadership that effectively guides the team but allows each member to feel ownership.

Give the team the structure they need by providing project management tools, meaningful ceremonies, and regular feedback that comfort rather than constrain.

Provide the team with sufficient vision and empowerment by clearly conveying a strong core mission, results-based expectations, and the tools and access to measure success.

What are your experiences with Agile Design? Let me know in the comments below.

The post How to Succeed at Agile Product Design: Avoid These 3 Mistakes appeared first on HOW Design.

How to Succeed at Agile Product Design: Avoid These 3 Mistakes syndicated post

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