Activate Your People: How to Design Data Products That Drive Adoption
You can build the smartest model, the cleanest pipeline, and the slickest dashboard; but if no one uses it, it doesn’t matter.
Adoption isn’t a bonus. It’s the point.
In most organizations, the biggest barrier to impact isn’t the tech; it’s the people. Not because they’re resistant to change, but because the tools they’re given don’t fit how they work. They’re clunky. Confusing. Detached from real decisions.
If you want your data and AI strategy to deliver, you have to activate your people. That means designing for real workflows, coaching in the flow of work, and using telemetry to learn and improve. This post breaks down how to do that step by step.
What Does “Activate Your People” Really Mean?
It’s about earning usage, not demanding it. It’s about making the right action the easy action. And it’s about designing products that people actually want to use because they help them do their jobs better.
Here’s the goal: Can a new user be productive in under 30 minutes? If not, you’ve got work to do.
Step 1: Design for Decisions, Not Just Data
Start where the decision happens. That might be:
- A screen on the shop floor
- A CRM interface
- A maintenance app
- A scheduling dashboard
Wherever it is, your product needs to show up there. Not in a separate portal. Not in a weekly report. Right where the user is already working.
What does decision-first design look like?
- Fewer clicks
- Less cognitive load
- Clear next steps
- Context for why the recommendation matters
Every screen should answer: What should I do next and why?
If your product doesn’t help someone make a better decision faster, it’s not ready.
Step 2: Build a Shared Language
One of the biggest sources of friction in data products is vocabulary. Different teams use different terms for the same thing. Or worse, the same term for different things.
You can’t drive adoption if people are constantly asking, “Wait, what does that mean?”
Fix it with a common vocabulary:
- Define measures, segments, and statuses clearly
- Bake those definitions into the product experience
- Use consistent labels across dashboards, alerts, and workflows
When everyone speaks the same language, conversations shift from “what’s true?” to “what should we do?”
Step 3: Coach in the Flow of Work
Training doesn’t work when it’s a one-off webinar or a PDF no one reads. People learn by doing - especially when the stakes are real.
Here’s how to coach effectively:
- Identify champions and early adopters
- Co-develop workflows with them
- Create hands-on practice tied to real work
- Give users a sandbox version of the product with fake data to practice decisions
This isn’t about teaching features. It’s about building confidence in the decision-making process.
Step 4: Instrument Everything
If you’re not measuring adoption, you’re flying blind.
Telemetry isn’t just for debugging; it’s for learning. It tells you what’s working, what’s confusing, and where users drop off.
What to track:
- Usage rates
- Drop-offs
- Time-on-task
- Overrides
- Outcome deltas
Use this data to steer your backlog. If users are ignoring a feature, ask why. If they’re overriding recommendations, dig into the context. Every click is a clue.
Step 5: Build the Right Artifacts
To support adoption, you need more than just a product. You need a toolkit.
What to include:
- UX prototypes that show how the product fits into the workflow
- Workflow maps that document how decisions are made today
- Playbooks that guide users through common scenarios
- A lightweight enablement plan with coaching milestones and feedback loops
These artifacts help teams stay aligned and give users the support they need to succeed.
Step 6: Run an Adoption Readiness Review
Before you launch, ask two questions:
- Can a new user be productive in under 30 minutes?
- If not, simplify the experience.
- Are we capturing enough telemetry to learn?
- If not, instrument the product better.
This checkpoint ensures you’re not just shipping a product, you’re setting it up for success.
What Happens When You Get This Right
When you activate your people, adoption becomes organic. Here’s what it looks like:
- Users ask for more, not less
- Teams start sharing success stories
- New users onboard quickly without hand-holding
- Feedback loops drive continuous improvement
- Products evolve based on real-world usage
This is how you turn a pilot into a portfolio.
Final Thought: Adoption Is a Design Choice
Too often, adoption is treated as an afterthought. Something to worry about after the product is built. But if you wait until the end, it’s already too late.
Adoption starts with design. It lives in the workflow. And it grows through coaching and feedback.
So don’t just build for the business. Build for the people who make it run.
