By the time a redesign project reaches us as a "rescue," the design work is rarely the problem. What actually stalled it, almost every time, is the same pattern: too many stakeholders with veto power and no single person empowered to make the final call.
The pattern, almost word for word
A redesign kicks off with real momentum. Mockups get approved. Then someone senior who wasn't in the early meetings sees it for the first time and has feedback — reasonable feedback, usually, just late. The team revises. Someone else weighs in. The revision cycle that was supposed to take a week stretches into a month, then two, and by month three, the original momentum is gone and so is the site's tolerance for staying "in progress."
Redesigns don't usually fail because the design was wrong. They fail because nobody was clearly allowed to say "this is final" and mean it.
What we ask for before starting
Before we start any redesign now, we ask for one named decision-maker — not a committee, one person — who can approve or reject a milestone without needing to poll five other people first. That person can absolutely gather input. But the approval itself needs to sit with one accountable name, or the revision cycle we described above becomes almost guaranteed.
The other half of the fix
The other half is smaller, tighter review windows. A 48-hour feedback window on a milestone, communicated clearly upfront, produces sharper and more decisive feedback than an open-ended "let us know your thoughts whenever." Open-ended windows invite exactly the kind of late, scattered input that derails a project three months in.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
- Most stalled redesigns fail from decision paralysis, not from the design work itself.
- One named, accountable decision-maker prevents the slow-motion scope creep of unlimited stakeholder input.
- Short, clearly communicated feedback windows produce sharper decisions than open-ended review periods.
This space is available for a relevant sponsor or partner. Get in touch to enquire about placement.
Redesign stalled and you're not sure how to restart it?
We've rescued a few of these. Tell us where it stalled and we'll tell you honestly what it'll take to get moving again.
Start the conversation →