16 3 / 2012
RECAP: Criticism and Two Way Streets
I recently read a fantastic post by @destraynor on implementing a criticism discipline for design reviews. I passed it along to my team and consider it a must read for all designers, UX/UI analysts, product managers, developers, or hell, anyone who considers themselves a problem-solver (check it out here). Here are my two takeaways:
Try, Try Again Your first solution will not a be 100% perfect. Please accept this. It may be close, damn close even, but it certainly will not be perfect. Make a first stab at it, take a coffee break, scour the web for other ways to approach it, come back, and revise.
Developing a MVP (minimum viable product) takes a similar approach and has become extremely popular. It takes on this notion of exploring for the best solution, not settling for a good one.
(img taken from article)
Open Yourself Up For Criticism My favorite bit of the post was the regiment around critiquing your own work and complementing someone else’s. Force yourself to poke holes in your solution and promote great aspects of others. This creates a conversation about the problem at hand rather than a competition to see who can muster the most pull.
The best problem-solvers don’t care where/who the idea originally came from. For them, it’s all about finding that ideal end result.
