Master These 6 Mindsets to Become a More Dangerous Product Designer
Becoming a more proficient, effective, and secure product designer, like many things, is simple but not easy. Essentially, the more experience you get and the wider range of projects and methodologies you’re exposed to and can employ, the faster you’ll develop as a designer. Put succinctly: More experience = More Skill. Throughout my young career as a product designer there have been 6 primary mindset shifts that have shown an asymmetric effectiveness in improving my overall growth.
1 | Listen to Learn
While listening to others or in discussion it’s often you’ll find yourself in your own head the majority of the time. It’s easy to over analyze what people think about what you’re saying, how you’re performing, or thinking excessively about a perceived mistake you’ve made. This is what most people do. Instead of focusing on what the other person is saying and what’s important to them, they’re concerned about themselves. Mastery by Robert Greene outlines how to better navigate social exchanges in a more externally oriented and effective way. Instead of exclusively considering your own thoughts, prioritize trying to place yourself in the shoes of the person(s) you’re talking to and understand their motivations and what’s important to them. This is insanely powerful when conducting research in the form of interviews or observations as well as better understanding the motivations of management and your stakeholders. Additionally, when you give someone your full, undivided attention, not only will they feel more seen and heard but you’ll be able to gather more potent insights which will convert to better informed design decisions.
2 | Embrace Your Weaknesses
Knowing where the gaps exist in your armor can afford you the opportunity to accommodate for that lack of skill. It’s impossible to become a master of all, which is why there are specializations and diverse team structures. Product design, by nature, is a team based enterprise. Being able to recognize where you fall short and when to ask for support will inevitably allow your team to create better products, open up doors for you to learn from other specialists, and will show others your willingness to collaborate and low ego.
3 | Actively Seek Critique
As the ubiquitous adage goes “you aren’t your work”. However cliche, the statement holds true, especially early in your career. Getting your work torn apart is never a picnic but the more constructive criticism you receive, the better your work will become and the stronger you’ll become as a designer. You’ll be surprised how much other people like to be included and feel like they’ve contributed to the final output, so try to stay open to their suggestions. Diamonds are made under pressure, not with little to no resistance. Focus on the product and make sure to remember that it’s not you being analyzed, it’s your work. As you practice this more and more, you’ll even begin to feel a perverse sense of pleasure in rejection and critique because you’ll start to automatically associate the feedback with improvement.
4 | Ask for Forgiveness, Not Permission
Early in my career, a mistake I frequently made was not being oriented towards action. Instead of starting a project or taking the initiative to work on alternative concepts or asking generative questions, I would wait for direction from the seniors on my team. An approach like this doesn’t help you grow and it certainly doesn’t get you recognition or favor within most orgs. Even as a junior or entry level designer, try to mentally operate like you’re a senior. “That’s easier said than done” you might be telling yourself. I think that’s true. Here’s how I helped myself get over that mental block. Whenever imposter syndrome struck or I felt like my contributions weren’t significant enough I told myself a couple reorienting statements:
“What’s the worst that could happen?”
You’ve been hired for a reason. You’re at your job because you earned your spot, one way or another. You most likely won’t be fired for voicing an idea, creating concepts, or taking the initiative to do extra work to push a feature forward. It’s likely the opposite will happen. Lean towards the edge of fear and take as much action as you can tolerate.
“You’re the only you in the universe”
You, as a designer, have a unique perspective, a set of God given skills, and a background that no one else in the world has. Don’t take that for granted. The largest breakthroughs and world shifting inventions happened as a result of someone deciding to act and deal with the consequences as they arrived. Although your scenario may be on a much smaller scale, the same principles apply. Plus, every great product designer began once as a novice. Most designers sit in mediocrity because it’s “good enough”. Don’t settle for that.
5 | Relentlessly Question Everything You Don’t Understand
I’m sure I’m not alone in the feeling of anxiety that comes with not understanding something. You feel left behind and that you’ll be outed as a fool at any moment’s notice. These feelings can easily taint your workday, hindering any progress that could have taken place. A massive part of being a good product designer is asking the right questions. Even if you aren’t sure what the right questions are, ask questions about whatever is confusing you at the moment. You may feel like you’re asking questions that have been answered before or that they’re “dumb questions” — ask anyway. Chances are, others will benefit directly or indirectly from the clarification that comes from your question getting answered. As you bolster your understanding further and further, your work will inevitably become more potent because you’ll have a much firmer grasp of the conceptual environment you’re working in. With that potency also comes confidence and from confidence greatness often flows.
6 | Move Like a Crafty Politician
Unfortunately, being a good designer alone isn’t enough to thrive within a corporate design structure. Navigating the political structure of your organization is also a key element of being a dangerous designer. Two books I highly recommend studying are The 48 Laws of Power and The Laws of Human Nature (both by Robert Greene, can you tell I’m a fan yet?). These books delve deeply into human motivation, emotion, and flaws. Increasing your understanding of these realms will massively aid how you approach the different types of professionals you’ll encounter. Additionally, these books will help you avoid getting sucked into petty drama, ego battles, and making the common mistakes new designers often make on their first corporate/design gig. Make allies by recognizing the strengths, contributions, and talents of your peers and seniors as well as interfacing with people outside your direct team as often as possible.
Most importantly, and I can’t possibly stress this point enough, document literally everything you work on, accomplish, and learn. I recommend having a detailed document or depository (Confluence, Notion, and Miro are solid places to start) that your manager has access to that outlines a summary of the projects you work on including, but not limited to: stakeholders involved, the work being done, how each feature ties to the established business objectives/KPIs, and links to files. It can be overwhelming to try to gather all of this information after the fact so try to take things piece by piece as they happen. Prevention is always better than the cure. This is paramount when either being considered for or asking for promotions/raises because it makes your manager’s job 10x easier. This also helps with creating a clear paper trail when details get gray, and they definitely will get gray. Keep the appropriate people in the loop when things are changing or being updated. Establish a pattern of versioning within your files, document and communicate when things are updated, and take good naming conventions seriously (Do I name my layers you ask? Let’s move on from this topic…).
Like any craft or skill, product design is a game of repetition. The more you practice good habits and intentionally work on your game, the better you’ll get. With this improvement comes confidence and being confident in yourself and your skillset will supercharge your growth, progress, and fulfillment in your career. When you look at all the amazing designers in the world, remember to ask yourself “why not me?” because they too were once at the point you’re at right now. Go be great.
