I have seen people with no design experience know hack a lot about designing. They have a strange sense of clarity about things they do. Part of it comes from experience. But there’s this intriguing nature that keep making them always alert about what they are doing with the problem. It doesn’t matter which tools they use, they use it well, and they create a sense of understanding about the problem unlike others, who simply start building on the problem. Some notes to self…
- Master the tools. If not master, at least be adequately good at them, or learning them. If you are learning
- Keep questioning the problem – If the problem is misunderstood, in the beginning or during a prolonged design process, go back to questioning it. Always keep the problem in focus.
- If there’s no problem, there’s no design – Unless what you do solves a problem, there is no point in doing it.
- Don’t over-complicate it – Test different interfaces, or solutions. Don’t complicate it, if there’s no value addition to the solution.
- Always have a deadline – Without a clear deadline, you will keep creating infinite mental loops that will drain your time and energy.
- Have a task list – Divide the problem into smaller parts, and then try to solve each part individually. Sometimes, problems do get solved when observed as whole, but that’s rare.
- Find a reference – If you want to do something fast, find a reference point. Nothing in this world is new. Everything builds on something.
- Don’t allow early feedback – Unless a task gets don’t, constant observation and feedback can derail your work, making it haywire. It’s still agile. Just not too early.