[IxDA Discuss] design by committee??

[Dave Cronin]

This is an interesting one... and i love that ok/cancel strip. thanks for passing along ;)

My $.02 on techniques for working with the design by committee/consensus situation:

- Base your decisions on ethnographic research. I've found few things that silence critics as quickly as apt anecdotes and observed behavior patterns.

- Define (and agree on!) the problem before proposing or evaluating solutions.

- Figure out constructive ways for the whole project team to participate early enough in the process to entertain divergent thinking without it becoming counterproductive. I'm not necessarily advocating playing with legos or brainstorming (though those are both fun).

- Depersonalize solutions by focusing on serving the needs of personas/user models/roles/whatever you like to use (i.e. it's not about "my idea" versus "your idea," but about serving the needs of "nancy.") This also helps with the defining the problem bit.

- Be willing to throw your ideas out. If you're a good designer, and you've got a strong solution to a complex problem, my experience is that nothing is going to freak the team out more than going back to a blank slate. After about 5 minutes they usually come running back to what you proposed (though whether they give you credit for it is another question ;).

[my apologies if i'm repeating stuff that's already been said; I just read through the thread at once and might have missed something.]

-dave

__

Cooper | Product Design for a Digital World

David Cronin
Director of Interaction Design
dave at cooper.com 


-----Original Message-----
From: discuss-bounces at lists.interactiondesigners.com on behalf of Wilson, Russell
Sent: Tue 7/18/2006 7:38 AM
To: discuss at ixda.org
Subject: [IxDA Discuss] design by committee??
 
[Please voluntarily trim replies to include only relevant quoted material.]

I don't believe in "design by committee".  Specifically
where the committee is made up of groups outside of design
(development, product mgt., etc.)

I'm not saying that I don't believe in collaboration. But I do
not want to be in situations where I have to "compete" for design
with non-designers.  I cannot see how conceptual integrity can be 
achieved this way.

And yet it seems that no matter where I go, no matter what level
I reach within a company, development (and other groups) want some
authority over interface design...

Does anyone have any successful experiences to share regarding
improving synergies between design/development?  I would 
ultimately like to see development focus on implementation
and feasibility and let design focus on design (desirability - for
those who have seen the diagram).  And this is coming from someone
with a development background!

Thanks,
Russ

Russell Wilson | Director of Product Design  
NetQoS, Inc. | 5001 Plaza on the Lake, Austin, TX 78746
512.334.3725 | russell.wilson at netqos.com 

NetQoS: Performance Experts
www.netqos.com



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