Fail!

A couple of weeks ago I attended the much anticipated unveiling of a new design, the merits of which were almost completely lost in the resulting mayhem between the designers that had gathered. The group quickly and clearly polarized like a bunch of iron filings when even a small magnet is placed nearby. On the one corner there were those who put on display countless hours of hard work, which obviously was not to be challenged. On the other corner were those whose previous work was incorporated and improved in their absence, fully armed and ready for battle. Both were passionate about doing the right thing, and both were equally passionate about doing it their way.

This is just one of the many examples illustrating the bizarre state of the design industry resulting from the obtuse understanding of what makes a design team great. Every designer I know wants to leave their mark on the world. Who doesn’t want to be the next Tim Brown or Tom Kelley? Who doesn’t yearn to work in the hallowed grounds of Pixar or Apple? Yet as much as designers want to emulate these individuals and companies, few actually try to emulate the behaviors that make for great work and instead blame everything and everyone else for always falling short of producing great work.

IDEO hit the mainstream when it was profiled by Nightline back in 2000. I remember seeing the DVD a few years later and sharing in the tremendous positive energy in the room as my fellow designers and I wondered about what we could do if only we were allowed to work as IDEO did. Ideas ranged from the silly (“man… I would be infinitely more inspired if only I could have a DC3 wing hanging over my cube”), to the practical (“we could observe so many more users if we left the confines of our offices”). What no one seemed to notice was that everyone working on the featured project had a sense of altruism completely absent in most other design firms. It wasn’t about representing a discipline or process; it was about adding value and then parting with ownership so others can iterate beyond the original idea.

Pixar is another motivational darling. When The Incredibles was released on DVD in 2004, it included a short documentary on the process Pixar followed when creating the movie. It highlighted how important collaboration and individual empowerment are to the creative process. As with the IDEO documentary, the most powerful idea was missed by those hoping to be inspired. In order for Pixar producers, animators, and executives to effectively collaborate, they all had to focus on the merit of ideas as opposed to their source. It was about whether a change in the storyboard better represents the desired effect, not whether the suggestion came before or after it was expected in the project plan, or whether it came from this team or that team.

It's easy to want to create masterpieces, but it's hard to change behaviors that prevent us from doing so. Greatness will not happen when you finally work in an environment conducive to creativity. It will not happen when obstacles are removed so your ideas can flourish. It will not happen when the right process is in place to mimic what great teams have done in the past. Greatness will happen when, very simply, you get out of the way and let it happen.

Or you can continue to be bitter, hate the world, and sit back as more epic fails come your way… isn’t that what being a designer is all about?