Everyone Is A Designer, You’re A Facilitator.
Hi everyone, Kevin here.
Today I would like to discuss an issue I keep confronting in the design realm: design ownership and leadership. These are mainly thoughts on the subject, roughly put together after some recent discussions with colleagues and people from the community. To tackle the issue, let me start with something I always found amazing –and sometimes disturbing: everyone wants to have a say on whatever is being designed. Okay, let’s try to go further than this blank observation which leads to the same old complain designers have.
First, the reality –we have to admit it– is that when there is no “designer” per se, someone else does the job (e.g. the PM, PO, BA, or any product-related person). And yes, despite the increasing interest of more and more companies in design as a competitive advantage, there is plenty of places where there is no designer.
But, is it really a problem? One of the common bias I observe from many designers is to think that we need a designer in everything that is designed. Yet, many products/services are designed without designers participation. Or are they? Does it makes the people behind those products “designers”?
Some weeks ago I published an article about a study on the Aesthetics-usability effect. I shared it on the usual social media and “design groups” where I occasionally get some kind feedback and interesting comments. A few days later, one comment caught my intention, as a fellow designer, James, wrote this under my post:
So, I asked him to develop his reasoning a bit –and he did. Here is the full “exchange” we had:
James’ position is symptomatic of an opinion shared by a part of the design community. I often hear it and read it, most of the time as an underlying message, in articles about design, and these rhetorical pseudo-arguments can be found in many designers’ speeches.
Here is my last answer to James, with no response so far.
Yeah, I know, I’m really not good at short answers… 😅
Anyway, this idea –that a designer possesses a certain higher knowledge and sophisticated skills learned from a small group of insiders, and presumably enjoys all-mighty powers allowing him to make the right decisions based on his own omniscient judgment and well-trained intuition– is not only outdated and elitist, it makes a lot of harm to the real value of design for companies.
These “lone cowboys” who, without necessarily realizing it, often behave in a way which prevents knowledge to spread, therefore preventing shared understanding to be built. In such a scenario, the team becomes dependent on the “expert” who’s entertaining some sort of obscurantism: a lack of understanding and fear of uncertainty rarely leads to good results.
Since many years, I consistently see my role –the designer’s role– like a facilitator, an enabler. Let me explain.
My opinion (yes, it’s just my opinion) is based on a simple reasoning elaborated around facts: before building a product or a service, you should first understand your users and their context(s). Furthermore, you want to be able to answer a few questions: what are their mental models, their paradigms? What are the different environments in which the needs occur? What are the expected outcomes? In brief, you want to create an understanding of your users –you’re building knowledge. This is true whatever the product is and whenever you do something, either it is to build a new product from scratch or update an existing one.
But as a designer, you’re probably not the only one who benefits from this understanding/knowledge. In fact, if you really aim to create a great product/service with a great experience for the users, you probably want the Product Manager, the developers, the customer support, and almost anyone working somehow on the product/service to have the same understanding, so that they can take the best decisions at their level.
It’s illusory to think that you can –or have to– be involved in every single decision taken (well you can try… wish you good luck!). And let’s face it: you’re not the only one making design decision! When your PM or PO decide to prioritize some features instead of others, when technical constraints drive how developers implement design specifications, they’re all making design decisions.
To prevent the endless (and meaningless) quest to control everything, build trust and empowerment instead. Help everyone in your team build the same understanding of the users. Empower them to have a user-centric mindset, to practice UX methods, to “act like designers” –they’re the designers, as much as you are. Then trust them to make good –read well thought and informed– decisions.
For this, start not only to embed them in your process but also to participate and practice them. You’re planning some user interviews in the coming week? Some usability testing? A journey mapping or co-creation workshop? Help the team organize and accompany them to perform the activities.
Make the process transparent, understandable, and explicit. All domains have their own jargon, but while it can be understandably useful among a group of practitioners, it can create unnecessary opacity and confusion to others. “Journey Map”, “Co-creation”, “Prototype” –all these seem pretty obvious and explicit, right? Probably for you. But don’t just assume it is, makes it clear.
For each activity, remind your team what’s the purpose, what kind of outcomes are expected, for what means, and what will be the next step. While doing this, I also recommend you to show where does it stand compared to your entire process, so the people can make their own visual representation of it.
Next time you complain about “this guy” being “stupid” because “he does not understand the point of doing something this way”, or complain about your PM not buying into your “improvement” proposal, or a developer not implementing properly your design, ask yourself: did I do all my best to involve them in the process? Did I build a shared understanding of the users’ needs and context?
One thing is certain: people are putting more value on something if they participated in its elaboration. This works for ideas as well.
Designers, stop producing, start empowering!
Thanks for reading!
This article was first published on Design & Critical Thinking.
Everyone Is A Designer, You’re A Facilitator.
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