5 People you need for your Design Caucus Team
Advice from the committee on forming successful cabals
Our collective experience working on long term design projects, startup weekends, hackathons, design firms, competitions, and other contexts has given way to the following team considerations. Each suggested persona is not on their own enough to succeed, nor do we believe one person can’t fill more than one role. However, the ideal scenario would be a team of five with each member being disproportionately responsible for their role and supporting in or two others.
The Revolutionary
Someone who wants to blow shit up. Every team needs someone who will drive the radical ideas, and push towards a world unlike anything we currently have. Some team building frameworks call this person the innovator or some other “thinking outside the box” archetype. We call it a revolutionary because this person should transcend business contexts. Challenging the status quo with passion, and vigor shouldn’t be limited to thinking creatively about financial tools.
The Empath
Someone who feels more than they think. Having the current and future needs of people at the core of your work will be critical to determining a real problem is being solved, and that people will enjoy the experience of your solution. While we believe pure Human Centered Design has become inadequate for dealing with the most significant challenges of our generation, the ability to empathize often and effectively will allow your team to assess the human elements of the problem proactively.
The Strategist
Someone who considers all the possibilities. This team member might be an operations specialist in their day job, a savant when it comes to strategic planning, or perhaps they have the holy grail of titles: “Strategist”. The point is that you’ll need someone with an eye on the tangible and practical aspects of your work, and considers the organizational perspectives necessary to success or in some cases designed failure. This person should also have a keen ability to anticipate outcomes and effects of the team’s work before they happen. This may take the form of formal future-casting or simply identifying how the dominoes will fall as an acquired skill.
The Crafts-person
Someone that can make stuff. Eventually the project will reach a stage when artifacts will need to be shaped. This may mean designing posters, a website, an app, or a number of other possibilities where an expert in the craft would be indispensable. This person may be good at many craft skills or excellent at one or two, and you should keep this in mind. When building your team we recommend thinking through the theme for the project carefully, and consider the possible outputs for your team. This will influence which of your crafty friends will best fit the group.
The Facilitator
Someone who knows what to do next. Your team will inevitably get stuck during the process, and having someone who can drive the work forward will be a necessary asset. This person might be the project manager of your dreams, or an expert in running workshops and leading teams. They should be able to motivate and inspire the members of the team when it feels like the work is going nowhere, and pivot the team when the rabbit hole begins to go too deep.
We hope you find this quick guide helpful, and we look forward to seeing you at Design Caucus! Register for our next caucus @ designcaucus.org
