When I studied in Boston, I had a teacher who kept repeating one thing over and over in his distinctive New Yorker accent.
Write it Down!
He let us know it in any way, shape, or form; when he taught us something, he always made sure he ended it with the rhetorical question: and what do you do next? You WRITE IT F*CKING DOWN! Not because you might forget it, but because it helps you to organize your thoughts and to make it easier to explain how you are contributing to the whole.
When I was at SXSW last year, I was sitting in the front row listening to the presentation of the third Design In Tech report that is presented annually by Jackie Xu and John Maeda. During the presentation, John always makes a point about the skill sets that creatives of the future in design and technology should have. And last year, he added a third one based on three articles that made me think of my teacher in Boston.
“We talk about the power of words — both content and style — all the time. When it comes to friendships, romance, work dynamics, and, dare we even mention it — though nothing is more telling, more relevant — politics, words have the power to change our opinions, incite action, divide or unify us, move us. Words can shape reality.”
— JENNIFER VAN“I think of design as a process of articulation. We join in expressing an idea in a coherent form. We bring ideas to life. We connect the dots or build bridges for our users. That often means being specific about what a product does, who it’s for, why it matters, and how it works. We have to trek through a pile of ambiguity to do this.”
— NICOLE FENTON“Here’s where I’d like to draw the parallel with writing — because a core skill of the interaction designer imagines users (characters), motivations, actions, reactions, obstacles, successes, and a complete set of “what if” scenarios.”
— SUSAN STUART
Service Design Manuals & Game Rules
One of the things I do when I am in the position of guiding teams forward is to create some form of a service manual. As an example, I always take the service manual from the UK Government. It is is a great enchiridion about how the UK government creates services.
I ask everybody to contribute to the manual with the things she or he is working on. It does not have to be long, just an overview of what you do.
Everybody is free to write what they want; there are just six game rules:
1. Write on a meta level. Do not write about what you do, but about how you do it so that others can replicate it.
2. Use what you do as an example.
3. Use well-thought-through metaphors if you do not have practical examples.
4. Use a lot of hyperlinks. “The bluer the page, the better.” It means that you reference your colleagues a lot.
5. Use English. You want to reach as many people as possible. Be inclusive!
6. A slide deck (i.e., Powerpoint, Keynote) is not a form of written documentation. It is a tool to help you present your idea.
Happy writing!
