Last Sunday I took a break from being a designer to play in the tennis men’s open singles finals.
Not at Wimbledon. At my local club in North London.
Here’s how it went:
- I lost the first set 4-6
- I won the second set 6-3
- I lost the final set 1-6
Even though I lost, I was happy.
Why?
Because I didn’t expected to win. My opponent was the clear favourite and last year’s champion. So everyone including me had low expectations.
I went out there without much pressure and just tried to enjoy the experience.
But here’s the thing:
When you feel less pressure you tend to play better.
But this doesn’t just apply to tennis.
It also applies to design.
Let me explain…
Here’s your typical design process (you won’t like it):
- You find a problem
- You look at the data
- You run some research
- You design a solution
Next your design gets shipped to production.
Except it doesn’t because:
- A stakeholder says they don’t like it or it’s not worth the effort.
- A developer mutilates your design to make it quicker to build.
- A product manager slices it up into something he calls a minimal viable product where the ‘viable’ is no longer part of the equation.
It’s fine though because he says he’ll put it on the backlog (never to be seen again).
So you bitch and moan to the few people on your team who get it.
But bitching and moaning doesn’t actually get you anywhere.
So what do you do?
You acknowledge that:
Losing is part of the job
This is a good thing. Because when you realise that being challenged and ignored is part of the job it takes the pressure off and you do better.
But how do you actually take this realisation and apply it in the workplace?
Follow these 3 simple steps:
Step #1: Accept that stakeholders and colleagues will disagree with you
Most stakeholders and teammates don’t know what good design is.
But they’ll pretend they do. They’ll even deliver their poorly thought-out opinions with confidence. They might even gang up on you.
That’s fine.
Because you’re expecting it.
Step #2: Focus on the process, not the outcome
If you focus on the outcome (that your design will get shipped), when stakeholders and teammates question you, you’ll get pissed off.
If you get pissed off, you’ll communicate badly.
If you communicate badly, you’ll lose trust.
Goodbye outcome.
But as you’re expecting it, you’ll be calm, you’ll communicate well, you’ll gain trust.
Step #3: Know what your stakeholders and teammates will say
Your stakeholders and teammates are all going to say the same sh*t.
“It’s not important”
“It’s too much effort”
“[Sh*tty pattern] is the best because Google uses it”
If you know what stakeholders are going to say, you’ll have a better chance of explaining why your design is the right way to go. And why theirs isn’t.
If you’d like help with the last part, you might like my course Form Design Mastery. I cover all the bad design patterns that so many people are hell bent on using, why they’re bad and what to do instead: