Designing Without Compromise

Designing without
compromise
@gilescolborne

@gilescolborne@gilescolborne
As a designer, what i
seek is simplicity.
i mean the kind of
elegant simplicity
where there’s a clarity
of purpose.
The designed object (or
interaction, or service)
speaks to the user with
a consistent, clear,
single-minded voice.
Simplicity Always seems
radical because it is
rare.

More often we have
a mish-mash of
ideas.
Different voices
trying to speak at
once.
‘design’ ends up
being about gluing
the bits together.

We know the causes…
A senior stakeholder
seagulls into a
meeting and demands a
feature gets included.
Poop!
A business analyst
gathers a long list of
requirements from
stakeholders and ranks
them according to a
score. Design that!
A couple of managers
sit in on a design
meeting and decide they
should each contribute
one idea. One each is
fair, right?
Maybe you’ve bitched
about situations like
that in the past…

Some designers turn
into hand grenades,
tossed into meetings
and ready to explode
in a tantrum. Not a
good look.
But What’s the
alternative? Muddling
through at the expense
of your integrity?
Leaving the meeting
feeling like you’ve let
yourself down?
What an awful choice.

For me each of those
situations has one
thing in common:
a failure to deal with
conflict.
as Tyler Durden says in
‘Fight Club’, most
people will do anything
to avoid A fight.
Even, it turns out, give
up on their principles.

@gilescolborne
Some people see
conflict differently.
Chris Voss is a former
Fbi hostage negotiator.
He doesn’t like
compromise either.
He points out that you
can’t compromise with
kidnappers.
“i’ll pay you half the
ransom, you half-kill
the hostages” doesn’t
really work.

@gilescolborne
So he’s interested in
dealing with conflict.
in fact, He says you
should look forward
to the moment the
other side says ‘no’.
Only then do you get
to do your most
creative work.

So this isn’t about
fighting.
This is about
Constructive
conflict.
Constructive conflict
leads to Agreement,
clarity, speaking with
one voice.
simplicity.

@gilescolborne
The skilful leader subdues the
enemy without any fighting.
Sun Tzu, The Art of War Sun tzu points out that
you can have conflict
without fighting - if
you’re skilful.
Skill comes from
practice and
preparation.

@gilescolborne
That’s why we have
‘discover’ phases at the
start of design
projects.
They’re not for reading
background documents.
They’re for drawing up
your battle plan.

@gilescolborne
Start with yourself
But preparation should
start closer to home.
We all carry some
personal baggage into
conflict. Past
experiences.
we walk into the room
feeling angry, or
anxious, or intimidated.
The most important
preparation is
mastering those
feelings.

@gilescolborne
Do you sound like An
angry or sarcastic
parent? An anxious or
naughty child?
recognise your
emotions, but don’t
dwell on them.
instead, choose to be
creative!
Ask yourself: Why might
a reasonable person
acT as they do?
when you’re ready,
You’ll be able to ask
questions as one
adult to another.
you’ll be curious
about finding answers.
listen to the stories
you tell yourself about
the people you’re
facing.
Start with yourself

@gilescolborne
For a specific project,
my goals may be
different or just more
specific.
But understanding my
goals, and the reasons
behind them, helps me
recognise when those
things are being
compromised.
You should also think
about what you’re
really trying to
achieve.
what are your goals?
For example, i want the
design to be ‘Simple’.
i want that because
clarity of purpose
makes things better
for the user.
making things better
for the user makes for
better business.

Finally, it’s important
to know when you’re
undermining yourself
by being perfectionist.
educational
psychologist Carol
dwek points out that,
in the long run, people
who focus on
improving achieve
more than those who
aim for perfection.
Your goal isn’t to
‘design what’s perfect’.
You want to maximise
improvement.
that’s what you should
be going in to discuss.

Goal setting like This
isn’t the same as
compromise.
Bad compromises are
about avoiding conflict
by giving up on
something that
matters.
this is about making
sure you set yourself
realistic targets so
you can focus.

@gilescolborne
Once you’ve got
yourself in the right
mindset, you’re ready
to think about the
people you’re dealing
with.
constructive conflict,
requires trust.
Trust makes it okay to
explore disagreements.
One way to build trust
is to recognise shared
goals.
it’s also a good way to
explore the motivations
of the other person.
So ask about their
goals. Ask ‘why?’ and
look for the higher
goal. Sooner or later,
you’ll find a place of
agreement and trust.

For me, that’s the real
value of user centred
design.
Bring a group of
stakeholders into a
room to watch a user
test and you can often
feel the tension of
interdepartmental
conflicts.
But as they watch the
user test, they align.
Silos break down. They
realise they all want to
help the user.

@gilescolborne
Exploring goals also
builds trust because it
encourages you to
listen deeply to the
other person.
Listening is respectful.
it builds trust by
showing you care.
Summarising what
you’ve heard also helps
in two ways.
it reinforces that you
want to listen, and it
gives the other person
a chance to clarify any
complex points.
Now you can explore
points of
disagreement. ‘We both
want X, so i’m curious
about y.’ remember,
bring curiosity, not
opposition.

@gilescolborne
What about this is important to you?
How did we get to this point?
How do we solve this?
How am I supposed to accomplish that?
Anything else?
questions like these
help you explore
disagreement with
curiosity.
They also get you
working together on
a solution-The essence
of creative conflict.

@gilescolborne
One more thing. No
matter how tempting,
Don’t take silence
for Agreement.
Silence often means
someone is sitting on
concerns or hasn’t
understood.
it means trouble later.
You want a decision,
or clarity on how a
decision will be made.

@gilescolborne
What’s it like in
practice? WEll…
A colleague of mine
was working on an
ecommerce site.
the ultimate seagull
manager - one of the
most senior people in
the company - kept
popping up in
meetings changing
the colour of
buttons to black.
His subordinates were
all rather afraid of him.
instead of confronting
him they tried agreeing
to turn bits of the
design black - and
made jokes about it
behind his back, like
naughty children.
BUY

@gilescolborne
My colleague realised
she was getting
drawn into Parent-
child behaviour and
she needed to step
out of that.
So she focussed on
shared goals - a site
that worked for the
users and refreshed
the brand.
Then she asked him - i
can see you’re not
happy with the design
direction. what’s the
real problem here?
BUY
He said - haven’t you
seen our competitor?
They’re modern, simple.

@gilescolborne
So it wasn’t really
the colour scheme
that he cared about,
it was the feeling of
being modern and
simple.
They talked about what
it meant to be modern
and simple and agreed
that was what they
both wanted. Then they
talked about colours…
…and how they needed
to be on brand. And
how the website needed
to match the stores.
And how much a
rebrand would cost…
BUY

@gilescolborne
She asked him what to
do. He said ‘make it
modern and simple,
but stick to the
brand.’
And after that, the
problem of the black
and white colour
went away.
simple as that.
Sometimes conflict is
like that.
Once we make it easy to
talk about what we
want, and why, we
learn something
important and the
conflict goes away.
BUY

@gilescolborne
ALSO:
BUY MY
BOOK!
So… Conflict is the
point of maximum
creativity.
recognise how you
feel about conflict.
Ask ‘why might the
other person behave
like this?’ and Decide
to be curious.
Listen, and discuss
shared goals.
And use clever
questions to co-
create solutions.
Simple.

@gilescolborne
The skilful leader subdues the
enemy without any fighting.
Sun Tzu, The Art of War

Designing Without Compromise

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