We discuss a crucial yet often overlooked aspect of UX design: the importance of starting with strategy before user research. Many designers jump straight into understanding the user. However, they overlook early and strategic conversations about business goals. They also miss discussions on budgets and project timelines. Skipping these steps limits designers’ influence and leads to reactive work that lacks alignment with core objectives.
This is a reminer about three essential phases of UX strategy:
- Business: Understand project goals, constraints, and success metrics.
- Discovery: Collaborate with stakeholders and research competitors for unique insights.
- Planning: Create a roadmap connecting design with business objectives.
By integrating these strategy phases, designers transform from executors to strategic partners. They reclaim influence and ensure their work aligns with both user needs and business goals.
I recently helped a designer shape a case study. They started by describing the UX process, naturally, with user research and empathy—understanding the user.
Fair enough, right? But something felt off.
I asked, “What about strategy?”
They looked surprised as if I’d suggested Googling it first. And they had. The top results—all those UX blogs and design gurus—start with user research, completely ignoring strategy.
This, I realized, is a problem.
Skipping strategy isn’t just skipping a step; it’s missing the entire point of why UX should be in the room. It means designers are walking in halfway through the movie, with no idea of the plot. They’re excited to understand the users, sure, but they’re also cutting out the real decision-making conversations—the ones about business goals, budgets, and timelines.
Without these, they’re missing the “why” that underpins the entire project.
Why Strategy Matters
Strategy is the blueprint, the scaffolding that holds the project together.
It’s where you align design with business objectives and define what success looks like for the user and the organization.
Strategy makes sure you’re on the right path before diving into design.
What are the main phases of UX strategy?
- Business: Understand the goals, constraints, and success metrics that matter.
- Discovery: Workshop with stakeholders and research competitors to reveal unique opportunities.
- Planning: Outline a roadmap that connects design with business objectives.
Skipping this step is like getting on a plane without a destination. Without strategy, projects tend to go off-course, with designers scrambling to meet objectives they didn’t know existed. Designers then react to problems rather than steering toward solutions.
Reclaiming Your Influence as a Designer
Incorporating strategy doesn’t mean reinventing the wheel.
It means reframing your role—from someone who’s handed a project brief to someone who shapes it.
Start by asking essential questions: What are the business goals? What’s the budget? What KPIs will measure success? These questions put you, the designer, in a strategic, partner role rather than a hands-on “executor.”
Next time you’re tempted to dive straight into research, pause.
Think strategy.
Embed yourself in those early conversations, and watch how your role—and the project outcome—transforms.
