Design Lesson #1: Talk to People

I’m not trying to imply an authority when I use the word “lesson”. Rather, I speak out of my ignorance and a most recent learning that comes after years of doing the wrong thing when designing new digital products: not talking to people enough.

There are two main reasons why I think this happened to me and probably to you, the reader:

1. Ego. You think you are expected to know the answers to everything because you’ve taught yourself to be independent and self-sufficient, and you want to impress your coworkers by getting things done with intuitive thinking.

   Intuitive thinking is incredibly valuable, of course. But even the most perceptive mind needs to be calibrated. Constantly calibrated. The only way to accomplish this is by having discipline in involving others’ points of view throughtout different stages of the project. From a simple “what do you think about this?” to actual difficult questions that other team members are better suited to answer.

2. Process (or lack thereof). I like to describe myself as “pragmatic” and someone who likes getting shit done. But that’s led me to develop the bad habit of a nebulous, vague process. When it works, it works great. Oftentimes, however, it creates mental blocks in which there is no clear answer of what should happen next. The problem I’m trying to solve suddenly feels larger and more complex than it should.

   This is what made me realize that the answer to such situation is as simple as putting a pause to your tangible work and psychonanalyze yourself a little: what’s blocking you? what questions you aren’t asking? Go back to the basics. Funny enough, this often results in talking to people more.