The Design You Deserve.

This post has been on my mind for some time, and I think that the time has come to share my thoughts. Maybe you are a manager somewhere, maybe you are a CEO, maybe you are a team leader, a design or tech lead, or maybe you bring in freelancers or consultants to help you deliver something awesome. In all cases, you really do want to get a brilliant end-result that will please customers, excite the team, make you some money and feel like work well done. For this to happen, you are going to have to have to do a few things and refrain from doing a few others. Unfortunately, it isn't enough to just bring in a great team and wait for something breathtaking to pop out the other end. I'm going to focus especially on how to work with your experience designers, but a lot of these Do's and Don'ts apply to developers and every other kind of expert you might hire in to help. (I'm assuming in this post that you do want great work to happen. If for whatever reason, you want something mediocre, say so. It will save everyone a lot of time.)

How you work with the team will dictate the design that you get. The same people can deliver a dogs breakfast or an awe-inspiring result. You have a hand in this.  Be clear, support them to ensure everyone is heading in the same direction, and feed back often, without getting in the way. This is not always as easy as it sounds, so here are a few things you can do to ensure that the team has what they need from you and that you remain a great client/boss/team lead, etc...

Do:

• Take the time to brief everyone on the job at hand (don't skimp on this, it will cost you dearly)
• Go to the team with a vision (Steve Jobs briefed the Frog Design team with "Give me Bob Dylan songs" to get the first iMac)
• Get involved (make suggestions, be part of the discussions)
• Speak up, draw, role-play (use a variety of communication means to ensure you are understood)
• Listen (actively)
• Ask about specialisms (visual design is a specialism, not all experience designers have it, and not all of them code either)
• Trust your team (they know what they're doing, this is why you hired them)
• Change your mind if there is a good reason to (i.e. There's a better idea/way/focus..)
• Give it a chance if you don't like it  (really cool design can look and feel strage at first - Sydney Opera house?)
• Ask a lot of questions (take the opportunity to learn and understand)
• Voice your fears (tell the team what you are most worried about, so they can help you manage those concerns)
• Praise them often (celebrate all your wins, life is just too short not to)
• Be honest (if you think something is ghastly, say so. But know that anything awesome looks weird at first)
• Sit with the designer and actively pair with them (be respectful, listen, think, contribute)
• Relax and have fun (you're making something cool, right? Even if you have deadlines looming...trust in the team)
• Focus on your strategic goal (if you don't love the design right away but the team is sure,...trust them)
• Show examples of things you had in mind
• Be clear on costs and timelines
• Bring designers in early on in the process
• Know that experience design covers a range of activities to get to a deliverable (ask for the plan, even if it's subject to change)
• Attend user testing
• Make your analytics available
• Be open to change
• Say thank you

Don't:

• Assume everyone understands what you want immediately
• Assume experience design is limited to visual design or interface design (it's about paying attention to every customer touchpoint)
• Go to the team with a solution (tell them your vision, let them decide on how to get there)
• Micromanage the team
• Assume colour choice is easy, it's a science called colour theory
• Stand behind the designer, pointing at the screen (see here)
• Dictate the design (you will get a dogs breakfast, because you are not a designer. Bring your strengths to the table)
•  Shout (go for a walk instead)
• Place so many restrictions on the design that the team can't manoeuvre (if you want fresh work, you're going to have to take some risks)
• Assume that any kind of design emerges from a single person in a moment of genius
• Isolate yourself form the team (work with them)
• Refuse to go ahead with suggested activities (they're designed to get us closer to a great solution, not to waste your time)
• Make assumptions about the people who will be using the product (get to know them!)
• Hire an experience designer and expect them redesign your logo (you'll need a logo designer for that)
• Assume that the way you think is the same thinking used to design anything (be prepared to potentially have your mind blown)
• Assume it's easy (Tony Hawk makes skateboarding look easy...it's not)
• Assume anything!

Further Reading to get you started:

Seth's post too "How to live happily with a great designer"

Ward Andrews: "The difference between UX and UI: Subtleties explained in cereal"

Debunking User Experience Misconceptions "UX Myths"

UX Booth: "The Complete Beginners Guide to Interaction Design"

MIT: "XD course overview"

Russ Unger & Carolyn Chandler: A project guide to UX design (Book)

Robert Hoeckman: "Designing the moment" (Book)

 Here's IDEO's creative director Paul Benett "Finding design in the detail" for an interesting perspective: