How to improve collaboration in a Product Design Team.
Set a climate of respect and trust.
The foundation of a great Product is communication. Designers focus is often on the end result. Internal dynamics is equally important to create a top-notch Product. In Product teams with no rules to maintain fair and safe discussion, dominant voices drown out quieter voices with extremely valuable insights.
I wanted to outline a few rules for open communication that can seem evident but benefits from being shared with a group. Shared values around the design process — are not as common as one might think. Especially in an increasingly diverse world where a richness of backgrounds and experiences make up for the best teams.
- Clear communication channels improve a product.
Making sure that there are updated channels and set times for team-member to share and making sure they know they are expected to share. I personally like an open slack channel — where all the team members can share at all times as well as a weekly “stand up” / crits — where team members share their work.
2. Feedback is a commodity to be traded carefully.
No one likes to be critiqued. People shut down when they feel attacked or told what to do. This is why in a healthy communication group — feedback is asked for and not dealt with at random. The designer presenting his project is sharing valuable time and energy and often associates his work with his worth. Often one’s product feels like one’s baby — and nobody puts baby in a corner…
Feedback is to be asked and received. The designer presenting a project is the one asking for feedback on specific issues. If unsure what the feedback is asked about, ask the designer to clarify. “Are you looking for feedback on the typography or the visual style in general?” That brings me to the next point — share, share, share.
3. Share, share, share!
One of the biggest pitfalls of a designer is spending countless hours on a project, becoming so immersed in it that the end product ends up missing the point entirely. Tunnel vision is real. Opening up the projects to other pairs of eyes can help immensely.
This is why I encourage designers to share, share, share. And I mean, at all stages of a product. With everyone increasingly adopting and seeing the benefit of agile methodologies — a designer has to feel comfortable sharing a product in its rawest form; hand drawings, one simple graph, two buttons…
Nothing is more irritating than being told what to do — when you were going to do it anyways. I refer to the importance of rule 2 — if I am at the initial stage of my project, I don’t want feedback on the work I am going to do — but rather on what I am presenting right now. When in doubt when giving feedback — please ask for confirmation on what the feedback is about. Ask if you may share some ideas for the future of the project.
4. Stay humble.
Passionate people can become defensive of their work — but as the old adage goes — only idiots are certain. I am not suggesting putting your experience aside and doubting methods that have worked well for you and made you a successful designer. What I am suggesting is to keep an open mind to new ideas and debates. An idea is like a diamond. Its validity is reinforced with every successful cycle of debate pressure.
5. Remember there’s more than one “right”.
Product design is about understanding the depth of ideas and experience. A great Product designer is aware that his idea of right is fuelled by his own experiences and biases. Everyone comes from a different angle and that is what makes life so colourful and interesting. Sometimes — there are situations where two perspectives are directly contradicting each other. That is totally fine — knowing when to accept that one decision might not be clear-cut and accepting an opposing opinion is what makes a designer great.
6. Meditator, walk a mile in my shoes.
It can be hard to empathise with a situation you have no reference to. In the context of the design team — it is good to have a mediator to solve kerfuffles and set up the meeting agenda. Alternating between meditators allows each person to be heard and every participant to experience what is it like to share, be critiqued and mediate a discussion.
