{"id":18871,"date":"2020-01-09T16:00:08","date_gmt":"2020-01-09T16:00:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/marvel7077.wpengine.com\/?p=18871"},"modified":"2020-09-03T12:05:37","modified_gmt":"2020-09-03T11:05:37","slug":"handling-design-conflict-as-a-non-designer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/marvelapp.com\/blog\/handling-design-conflict-as-a-non-designer\/","title":{"rendered":"Handling Design Conflict as a Non-Designer"},"content":{"rendered":"

Right off the bat, let\u2019s clarify: we can\u2019t change your physiology.<\/strong><\/p>\n

If you naturally struggle with interpersonal conflict, there is some mental preparation we can do and some tactics we can employ, but we can\u2019t change your brain. That\u2019s a good thing. We want to arm your natural strengths, not change you. So let\u2019s go!<\/p>\n

As a team, we should preach and believe that the right kind of conflict is critical to making good design. Design without conflict is art. Conflict without design reasoning is just an opinion. We\u2019re creating the science of well-researched art that solves problems as perfectly as we can understand them. Today we\u2019re going to talk about how to do that even when it feels terrible. Let\u2019s jam!<\/a><\/p>\n

<\/div>
<\/svg><\/div>

\"Design without conflict is art. Conflict without design reasoning is just an opinion.\"<\/p><\/span><\/blockquote>\n

\"Design<\/p>\n

1. Remove your feelings from the conversation. Does the problem go away?<\/h2>\n

One of the hardest things to do as a non-designer manager is to figure out whether the issue you\u2019re about to bring up is really valid. You should always be learning more about best practices design, how to do it, and how to employ it; but the fact still remains, you\u2019re responsible for the outcome of your project. You have to<\/strong> bring up problems when you find them.<\/p>\n

When you\u2019re about to bring up something you think is wrong with design, take a step back and ask yourself if you\u2019re the problem and if you\u2019re speaking impartially. If you\u2019re causing a problem based on your opinion, you should do more work to understand why you have that opinion and if it\u2019s valid. If you have a real reason to believe there\u2019s a problem, lead with that when you bring it up. Your designers won\u2019t like the problem any more, but they\u2019ll respect a manager who leads with the real issue, not his or her personal feelings. The best thing you can do when bringing up problems with design is come with as much data and hard proof as possible. Designers are pros at solving real problems with their design skills.<\/p>\n

<\/div>
<\/svg><\/div>

\"When bringing up problems with design, come with as much data and hard proof as possible. Your designers will repect a manager who leads with the real issue rather than with personal feelings.\"<\/p><\/span><\/blockquote>\n

2. Most conflict with a designer means you don\u2019t both agree on what the real underlying problem is.<\/h2>\n

Assuming your team is talented and you both agree design exists within your organization to solve problems, conflict usually means you have different understandings and beliefs about what design is actually doing.<\/p>\n

Careful, disagreeing about the problem we\u2019re solving is completely different from disagreeing about the process of finding problems or the timing of the discovery of this problem. Designers and managers can spiral down into that conversation sometimes. Acknowledge the issue if the process or timing is wrong. We can fix that later. Focus on better understanding and defining the problem. What\u2019s the real problem we\u2019re solving? Do we agree on what that problem consists of? Do we agree on the path to solve that and whose job it is?<\/p>\n

<\/div>
<\/svg><\/div>

\"Disagreeing about the problem we\u2019re solving is completely different from disagreeing about the process of finding problems or the timing of the discovery of this problem.\"<\/p><\/span><\/blockquote>\n

3. Ask why, not what if.<\/h2>\n

Managers are always always always tempted to ask \u201cwhat if\u201d questions. The more you learn about design, the more you want to flex that design muscle and come up with an idea. After all, you probably are a grown-up marketer, advertiser, writer, and have lots of insights and ideas. Everyone is creative<\/a>, that\u2019s a good thing.<\/p>\n

However.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s not your job to come up with design solutions. If you want to be a designer, flex that muscle elsewhere. You\u2019ll find it\u2019s much easier to edit on someone else\u2019s work than create your own from scratch. The most beneficial way you can apply your design muscle is by using it to help your designer gain clarity. \u201cWhat if we changed background color every section\u201d<\/em> is a great question. That doesn\u2019t help your designer solve a real problem. That teaches your designer to follow your preference on trend and think of you as that manager who dabbles. Instead, ask your designer \u201cWhy haven\u2019t we more clearly delineated section breaks in this page?\u201d<\/em> If you have a preferred way of doing that, ask them whether they\u2019d like to see some websites you think have done that well, then send them a few links with bullets about what you like on each. You just avoided an emotional preference-based conversation. Instead you left the onus on your designer to solve an issue and gave them more perspective. This is an especially effective tactic if your designer is alone without many\/any other design eyes on his or her project.<\/p>\n

<\/div>
<\/svg><\/div>

\"As a manager, it's not your job to come up with design solutions and the most beneficial way you can apply your design muscle is by using it to help your designer gain clarity.\"<\/p><\/span><\/blockquote>\n

4. Don\u2019t take your designer\u2019s job.<\/h2>\n

#3 segues nicely into #4 here. Many design projects go off the rails when design starts struggling and managers jump in to help. Designers become fixated on why<\/em> design is off track and why it\u2019s not design\u2019s problems: brief was terrible, schedule unrealistic, don\u2019t have enough time, there wasn\u2019t any research, etc. Managers become fixated on finding and killing problems. In the past, the manager was probably really good at doing this. After all, that\u2019s why they got promoted to being a manager.<\/p>\n

The result is a big pancake. Metaphor alert! The bottom (designers) were getting cooked. SO, we flipped the pancake and the uncooked top folks try out the heat. This dynamic, while new and team-y feeling, will further bog down the project. Designers and other team members will start surfacing their problems to managers; the areas where they\u2019re stuck and have no idea what to do. Managers will start generating solutions -and- identifying other problems they think they\u2019re seeing. Suddenly, it\u2019s everyone\u2019s job to find problems, designers can\u2019t do anything because their work is now their boss\u2019 job. Managers work 10\u201312 hour days doing bad design work and showing it to the designer for help. This is a classic management misstep<\/a>. But design is tricky, for some reason we don\u2019t see it easily.<\/p>\n

Don\u2019t take your designer\u2019s job. If she\u2019s stuck, find ways to unleash her. Make it possible for her to come up with 3 new ideas and bring them back. Find another designer to workshop the problem with for a couple hours. Find more inspiration for her. Get more budget to bring in outside help. These are things you control that can make it possible for her to actually tackle the problem at hand and grow\/learn.<\/p>\n

Oh, and don\u2019t forget to solve the issues your designer pointed out about the brief, schedule, etc.<\/p>\n

<\/div>
<\/svg><\/div>

\"If your designer is stuck then try and find things that you can in control to make it possible for them to actually tackle the problem at hand to grow\/learn.\"<\/p><\/span><\/blockquote>\n

5. Cultivate the perspective that design is a provable or disprovable hypothesis.<\/h2>\n

We have no business designing for problems we don\u2019t understand. That may sound controversial. After all, isn\u2019t design the process of doing something new and beautiful in a way nobody has done before? No, that\u2019s art. We\u2019re doing art + science, remember? Again, we have no business designing for problems we don\u2019t understand. In fact, if we do that, we\u2019ll end up having no business<\/em> because we\u2019ll art<\/em> beautiful things that nobody needs.<\/p>\n

Design is always provable or disprovable. Setting up ways to test our designs against our problems is critical. It will help reign us in when we get too design-y or we\u2019re unfounded in our ideas. It will also highlight other problems in our process or project. Designers may not be able to identify or solve a problem. Maybe they\u2019re too junior. Maybe we haven\u2019t given the time or tools. Reinforcing that design is provable will help you solve many of these issues. It brings us back to agreeing that design is valuable \u2014 it\u2019s solving problems with real dollar potential and impact.<\/p>\n

<\/div>
<\/svg><\/div>

\"Reinforcing that design is provable will help you solve many of these issues and bring you back to agreeing that design is valuable.\"<\/p><\/span><\/blockquote>\n

6. Ask your designers what they need in order to better understand and better solve the problem. What are his\/her limitations?<\/h2>\n

Sometimes, you need to bring up an issue with a designer that is related to the fact he or she just doesn\u2019t have the skills necessary to address the problem at hand. Ouch. This is hard. You\u2019re not a designer, but you have to deal with the reality you\u2019re seeing. This is probably the most human issue we\u2019ve handled yet \u2014 this spans all of management, not just Design.<\/p>\n

Thankfully, this issue can be solved many different ways. Unless you have a really open relationship with this designer, or you\u2019re a complete asshole, you can\u2019t simply tell a designer you think they don\u2019t have the skills. Instead, you can try a few of these things:<\/p>\n