Decision making and UX/UI
In other words: How do you play games with the people you work with?
The topic of ethics is under consideration with a focus on the collaboration between designer and team - the process, not the results.
It was Jeff Parks who said that a smart and articulate UX designer can outperform the team in most cases. The thing is, something like this only works in the short term - for two reasons:
- At some point there is always someone who finds mere rhetoric insufficient – a product owner? a customer? a manager?
- When something goes wrong, you can't count on understanding
A healthy atmosphere within a team is important in order to achieve a goal and work comfortably. In the long run, such an atmosphere can only be reached if the people involved in a project are all fair to each other.
How do you play the "fair" game? Here are a few guidelines.
Justification
It might not be popular to hear, but with the mindset of "I know what I'm doing, so I'm right," you're shooting yourself in the foot more often than not. This argument bypasses most fact-based discussions and inhibits the actual engagement of the rest of the team - after all, there's no one else who knows what they're doing, so no one needs to weigh in. This doesn't promote a good discussion culture within the team.
Furthermore, if the solution proposed by the person "who knows what they're doing" doesn't work, the rest of the team will almost certainly stop listening to that person.
So what else?
if you make a suggestion, justify it! Refer to research results/a book/studies/an article, demonstrate a similar case from the past, or simply try to support your solution with common sense arguments. The team will understand your thought process. The more comprehensible the decisions are worked out beforehand, the greater the commitment of all involved.
If you only trust your gut instinct, you won't have any solid arguments to back yourself up. But don't try to hide it - be honest about it. In fact, being open about trusting your gut will make you seem more trustworthy.
Confession
There is always uncertainty, even among the most experienced designer-geniuses. Design is ultimately not a mathematical equation. The number of variables that influence how a product is received is immense. No one can predict all the variables, let alone control them consciously.
Contrary to popular belief, you don't need to know the answers to all questions. What is needed, however, is the idea of how to find a solution.
Rather than trying to force any half-answers to design problems, I'd much rather confess:
"I don't know, but let's try it this way."
It's safer for both you and the project.
Energy
In a design process, it is not about pushing as many of your ideas as possible, but rather implementing the best solutions. Something like this is quickly forgotten.
Clinging too strongly to our own ideas leads us to automatically view them as better. For example, during validation - even unconsciously - we are more lenient with our own solutions than with someone else's ideas. It is necessary to be aware of this and treat all ideas as shared ideas - the "Mine vs. not Mine" fight is always to be avoided.
We should not discriminate against solutions from less experienced or knowledgeable people. Oftentimes, one tends to reject inputs from such people in advance. In the worst case, this rejects the possibly best solution to a problem, just because the proposal comes from the wrong person.
Hard Facts
The best weapon of UX designers is the ability to retrieve and apply data in practice.
Keep this in mind and try to be the person with the facts and figures whenever possible. Data gathering, testing, and verification are crucial; experience shows that some teams mistakenly ignore these aspects. Whether we base our team work on hard data or subjective opinions is up to us.
Perspectives
UX designers should be like the user's lawyer. But being a good lawyer also depends on the client's innocence – compromises and settlements are made at the right time.
In design, it is a similar story: our ideas should also correspond to technical and business aspects, and not just aim at the user. An excellently designed project is of little value if it does not make sense from a business point of view. Therefore, we should look for solutions that meet the expectations of both the users and take into account the needs of others.
But we should also not go to the other extreme and completely forget about the user. If decisions are made by the team, then it is perfectly acceptable to veto them once in a while for the benefit of the user. However, the fight will be easier if we are known as the ones who strive for compromise and involve both the team and the users.
