Sales, marketing and support each want different changes to the same screen, all marked urgent. How do you decide what to design?

What the interviewer wants to hear

• Understand each request and the problem behind it
• Link requests to user needs, business goals and data
• Use a shared prioritisation method with the PM
• Make trade-offs visible and communicate decisions clearly

Model answer

I would first meet each group to understand the problem behind their request, not just the solution they want. Sales might want a feature banner because deals are lost, support might want clearer instructions because of ticket volume. Then I gather evidence: how many users are affected, analytics, ticket counts and revenue impact. Together with the PM, I map each request against our current product goals and score them by impact and effort. Sometimes one design can solve two needs at once. Prioritisation is the PM decision, so I support it with design input rather than deciding alone. I then share the decision with everyone, showing why some items wait and when we will revisit them. Being open about trade-offs keeps trust, even when people do not get what they asked for.

More hard UI/UX Designer questions

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• How do you design an AI-powered feature whose outputs are sometimes wrong, so users trust it the right amount?
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• How do you design for a complex enterprise tool used all day by expert users, such as a logistics dispatch system?
• You must make an important design decision, but research is inconclusive and there is no time for more. How do you decide?