- How can a Designer become a Leader?
- By Jose Torre
- The Nuggets translation Project
- Permanent link to this article: github.com/xitu/gold-m…
- Translator: TiaossuP
- Proofreader: Portandbridge, MarchYuanx
How can designers grow into leaders?
7 tips for leading a design team.
Disclaimer! This article is based solely on my personal experience, especially those that have brought me good grades. I am not saying that I know how to be a good Leader, I still have a long way to go, but anyway, I think it is interesting to share my learning experience now.
Change…
Let’s start with some background… When my manager asked me if I wanted to lead a team, I almost blurted out, No, I was a little hesitant about taking on that responsibility — especially since my true passion is design, and what I love most is creating things. In my mind, by default, leading a team means less time to design/create something and more time to manage people and other massive administrative tasks that may be required. So “no” was the natural answer. After all, I didn’t become a designer to manage designers all day and let them have fun.
When she asked me again a few weeks later, she mentioned why she believed I could do it and gave me a chance to try it for a few months. Since I had a small team to manage, I decided to give it a try and see if I still had time for design.
Three months later, I was able to find time to design, thanks to a small team, and I was even able to steer the overall direction of the team and hire designers I trusted, so MY conclusion was to continue to lead the team.
That’s how I got started, and even though I’m still very new, I’ve learned a lot in the past year, so I thought I’d share this with you and hope you find it useful — if you want to lead a design team, or if you’re wondering what it means to have that responsibility.
Finish these, please take a look at my experience.
1. Set a goal
The first thing I learned is that you need to give direction to your team. Have a clear goal that keeps them focused and lets them know what they should be doing and when.
Doing so will help people understand where they are going and what they should do to get there. Imagine you’re leading a few people on a boat, and if they don’t know where you’re going, you might run around and get nowhere. With a goal, even if it’s a bit vague, you get people paddling in the right direction. It doesn’t matter if your initial goal isn’t clear, but it becomes clearer as you move toward it.
When you define your goals, it’s best to define goals that are realistic in the short term and far-sighted in the long term. People need to know what they should be doing right now, but they also need to know what their ultimate dream is so that they can take your goals seriously.
In my opinion, as a design lead, your job is not only to write down what your team should do and when, but more importantly what your team can do. Your excellent design skills are also valuable when it comes to judging the capabilities of your team.
2. Haste makes one lag behind
If you read my last post, you know THAT I’m all for moving fast, and this tip doesn’t mean you have to move slowly, it just means you should go through the right design process and don’t skip any steps unless there’s a really worthwhile reason to do so. The “fail fast” mentality is not a valid reason, why would you want to “fail fast” if you have a way to test something on a small scale and avoid making it difficult for your users?
I mean, you shouldn’t stop prototyping just because it might take time. You need to test and validate your design as much as possible so that you don’t make bad decisions based on bad assumptions and release a product that is painful to use.
That also means that you should not regard things and not be in a hurry to go to the user testing, because there is nothing more frustrating to see people frustrated, you can see is not just a number or a username, you see a man trying to finish something should have been more easily – which thanks to your great design. During this time, you will learn more and resonate the most with the people using your product.
You can’t just skip it because you’re a leader, I think a good leader should lead by example, and if you don’t make it a priority, your team will probably follow suit. Because of this, you need to get as many valuable insights as possible from user testing in order to steer the ship properly. And the best way to do that is to get involved.
Next, needless to say, you should know all the details of the version of the product that the user is currently using, and you should have a thorough understanding of the version of the product that the user is currently using, so that you don’t forget them and the difficulties they’ve had.
A dream is a dream
While it’s great to be realistic, practical and pragmatic when designing products, I think it’s important not to forget about dreams and encourage your team to do the same.
A person doesn’t become a designer because they want to reuse as many existing components as possible, or because they want to spend the rest of their lives just designing MVPS.
So I think it’s important to keep the passion that makes people designers, and encourage them to get high once in a while. Because of the high cost of implementation or too idealistic, your team put forward a cool idea may never become a reality, but maybe, it will also motivate engineers to build the ideal and the reality of both products, it will eventually provide better experience for your users, and the things in the constructed can bring inspiration for the design team, become the basis of building work.
Another reason WHY I think dreams are important is that I’m a big believer that the moment you’re constrained is the moment you stop innovating. That’s one of the reasons automakers invest in concept cars, not to design a car that will be on the market in a few months, but to give their design teams (and the world) a look at what the future will look like, so they can envision how to design something more realistic while moving toward the future.
4. Listening makes one progress
The stereotype of a Leader is someone who talks a lot — they are in charge and tell everyone what to do. I’m not one of those people at all. I think a better leader is someone who listens more than he talks.
It doesn’t mean that you don’t say anything, it just means that you listen carefully, encourage others to participate and give their input so that you can use that as ammunition to build your opinion and make a decision. If you listen carefully, your contribution will be more meaningful and have a bigger impact whenever you speak.
As a supervisor, I think it’s also important that you don’t take a person’s views based on their seniority or position in the company. If you build your team correctly, you’ll surround yourself with smart people who share a common goal. That doesn’t mean you should ignore the experts’ advice, just remember that, in the end, you’re not designing for these experts, you’re designing for the people who use your product, and that’s enough. Your users are the ones you have to listen to.
In addition to design, listening can help improve team dynamics and efficiency. Talk to your designers and people who work with your team and ask them what could be done better. You’ll be surprised at how much insight you can gain just by listening to their point of view, and even if things are going a little better, there’s always room for improvement, just by listening.
5. Dream with your team
When you hire a designer, your goal should be to hire someone who is better at something than you are. If you want a good team, you can’t be afraid to hire people who might take your job, and you’re even better off hiring only people who can take your job, because they’ll help you move forward.
In addition to their skills, you should also assess whether their personality is a good fit for your team. You need to be able to communicate with this person, after all you work together every day, so it’s always nice if you don’t hate each other.
Once the team is in place, I think the best design work comes from proper collaboration. To encourage this, you need to be honest with your team, but also accept honest feedback. You may need specific people to execute parts of the design individually, but the vision and end result should be viewed as a team effort. Brainstorming, designing, and iterating should be done as a team, and I think that’s the best way to make everyone feel motivated, productive, and equally responsible for the end result, and that brainstorming is how you get the most out of the different brains on your team.
Last but not least, team size matters. I know from experience that small teams are always better. The more people you have under your command, the more channels of communication you have, which basically means there’s a high chance of misunderstandings.
6. Seeing is believing
I firmly believe that show is more important than tell. If you have an idea and you have a way of presenting it, your job as a designer is to make it happen.
A visible demo not only gives people a starting point for discussion, but also gives them a glimpse of what the idea will look like in the end.
When you’re leading a team, I think it’s important to stick to design. It shows your team that you’re not just a manager, you’re someone who cares deeply about design, and more specifically, you care about making something real and tangible out of whatever project you design.
This is critical not only in your design team, but especially when communicating with other stakeholders. If you lead by example and expect your team to follow suit, it will make your communication with other teams more effective.
Having said that, the point is not just to make design visible, but to take action, not talk about it. For example, if a team member has an idea to improve a workflow, if you believe in it, don’t wait to make it happen, make it happen.
It’s easy to resist change and go on doing what you’re used to doing. But if you never take action when your team gives you feedback, it may seem like you don’t care or listen to what they have to say.
As a Leader, your job is not only to tell your team where to go, but also to give them the space to express themselves and support them to push their ideas. (Top highlight of the article)
7. Build trust, not walls
It’s obvious, but YOU have to trust your designer. Don’t micromanage. You obviously hired someone for a reason, so you want them to show you their best side.
A bunch of talented designers aren’t any more productive or creative just because you sit behind them and track their progress, or because you make sure they all punch in at 8:59 a.m.
Every designer is different, trust their process. The only thing you have to do is give them clear goals and make sure they can reach them.
If they don’t meet their goals, and you shouldn’t be able to control them more carefully, I suggest doing this: Make them aware of their expectations and give them a second chance to get them on track. If they fail to recognize this expectation or are still not on track, then you must act quickly or their behavior and attitudes may spread to the rest of the team.
The ultimate goal is to have a team that can function even when you’re not there. I think that only happens when you trust the team.
Trust is not limited to your design team either. As the Leader, you must ensure that your team has the trust of all the teams you work with. Don’t forget to look outside and tear down any walls you might have. Whether it’s a product manager, development, marketing, or any other team, your job is to help build Bridges between your teams and encourage collaboration.
Take the time to get them involved early, don’t wait for them to come to you, take the initiative and push for real collaboration. In my experience, if you do this effectively, you will not only gain their trust, but you will likely have their support when important discussions occur.
Special advice!
If you can make it this far, I have an additional suggestion for you. If you’re anything like me and have a “creator” craving, even to the point of occasionally being “horny,” try scheduling dedicated “design time” on your calendar, by which I mean, uninterrupted blocks of time (2-4 hours).
If you don’t, your schedule will easily get swamped with meetings. Be prepared to say no, because if you don’t protect your time, people will try to steal it — especially if you have a full schedule.
Any conclusions?
To lead a team, you have to learn skills that designers don’t need, but that doesn’t mean you have to sell your soul and reinvent yourself. You just need to evolve — especially since you already have a lot of skills as a designer, you just need to adapt to your new environment.
At the end of the day, you’re still a designer, but the only difference is that instead of being alone in your quest, you now have someone who can help you expand your reach and speed up your progress.
Hello, thanks for reading 🙏
My name is Jose Torre, and I’m just a Portuguese guy who loves design.
¯ \ [ツ) / ¯
If you want to talk or just see what I’m doing, you can do it atTwitter,LinkedInAnd evenInstagramFind me on.
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