Drawing “the wrong picture”
Some advise for Designers:
Sometimes you just have to draw “the wrong picture” to get the right thing to happen.
Let me explain…
There are so many times in business when we’re deep into debates with co-workers (or even clients) about why doing something this way or that is best, when it becomes very clear things aren’t going to be resolved without someone caving on their position.
That’s business, that’s life. I think they call it “compromise”. But, being an uncompromising Designer, I don’t take ‘no’ for an answer very easily. So, I started using a simple but effective technique to assist my arguments… drawing the wrong picture (meaning the idea that you believe is flawed) in order to show it’s deficiencies without directly calling them out.
Not to be used all the time mind you, but for those situations when you are completely convinced or convicted that particular way (let’s call it “A”) is the best solution, and there’s well dug in opposition to what you know to be righteous and true. It’s in those moments that you have the best opportunity to persuade (i.e. Judo flip) the other party by using an unorthodox but very effective method — by drawing the opposing “B” proposal and trying to defend it.
Some really interesting collaborative dynamics happen when you take the opposing side seriously (to a point, of course), and argue for their point of view despite your own clear bias.
First, you open your own mind to seeing that other solution from a different perspective. In some cases, you’ll realize you were missing something important that can be integrated or leveraged in your own proposal, or in others that you were just plain wrong. I know, it doesn’t happen that often, but hey nobody’s perfect.
Second, you will probably find that by drawing the other solution “B” yourself (meaning whiteboarding, sketching, visualizing, prototyping, coding, acting out — whatever captures its essential qualities and behavior), some rationale and detail will emerge for you that weren’t there before.
Seeing those details is illuminating. You may find yourself empathizing with the opposing idea or even liking it. But, if you still aren’t swayed at least you took the important step of temporarily letting go of your dug in position to think a bit, and you probably identified some great attack angles.
And finally, and most importantly for the convicted Designer, you have the opportunity to defend and strengthen your position on “A” without being so overtly biased by just drawing their “B” in whatever fidelity will show its weakness most clearly to its supporters.
When you draw “the wrong picture” there’s a great chance its proponents will realize there was something *they* missed. You just helped make it a bit more clear for them.
You can tell by now this technique works for way more than Design issues. Regardless, exploring more than one solution fully is never really a bad idea.
They were just wrong ;-)
ABOUT
Mike Pell is leading Design for The Microsoft Garage, an innovation accelerator turning employee’s wild ideas into reality, worldwide.
Bold, insightful and uncompromising, Mike is recognized as a thought leader in the field visualization, and Smart Information.
Learn more at futuristic.com.
