3 Things a Design Team Can Learn from the Theater World
I am a graduate student studying Human-Computer Interaction at the University of Michigan. I am spending this summer working at Sumo Logic as a Product Design Intern. This is very different from how I spent most of my time in college. During college, at any point of the day, you would find me in the Drama Room practicing lines, rehearsing for my part in a play, making props or sometimes directing the play. I loved the thrill of telling a story, empathizing with my characters and crafting a beautiful experience for my audience. I guess that was a hint towards the Design career path I was to follow.
As I spent time working at Sumo Logic, I realized there was a pattern in how the design team functioned and it had a similarity with the theater world. See, both teams are made up individuals who have a strong creative sense and distinct specialities. It is this mixture of unique identities that makes teamwork challenging and fun. I’ve encountered 3 important aspects of teamwork that have worked in both the creative teams — design and theater. You can employ these strategies for the team you are leading and use them to build a stronger team.
1. Work off of your co-actors’ energy
When you’re rehearsing a scene, you work in tandem with your co-actors to create the required energy. For example, if he/she is at a higher level, they will try to inspire you to reach their level and you will try to match it. This give and take of energy creates a symphony between the two of you and together you can achieve the desired levels. Similarly, in design teams, make an effort to pick up where your coworkers have left off. This translates to working together as a cohesive design unit of researchers, designers, prototypers to create the final product where each deliverable (research reports, user flows, high fidelity prototypes) seamlessly feeds into the next step in the design process.
It basically implies that the individuals on the team try to be on the same page about the projects. This equips all members of the team to perform as per the same expectations. Encourage your team to identify the pieces in the puzzle and spend some time in understanding how the deliverables from one section of the team are taken forward by another section. This will build empathy and encourage the teams to fit more neatly into the puzzle. Having discussions about the goals and expectations of a project is also a great way of bringing the team on the same page.
2. Use your team as a mirror
At Sumo Logic, we have a weekly Design Swarm meeting. We sit around a table and one team member presents an idea or project they are working on. The team inspects the piece under consideration and offers constructive feedback to the designer. They ask pertinent questions and provide a fresh perspective to the creator. This exchange of feedback is similarly done in the theater world where not only does the director give verbal feedback after a scene run, but actors can gauge their performance based on their co-actors reactions in the scene.
Thus, the team members receive immediate reactions and identify areas of improvement based on their team’s response to their work. This enables the individual to re-work key pieces and small details before the final performance. Create a space in your team for members to give constructive feedback to one another. It could be as simple as enabling comments on your shared document or as extensive as scheduling a dedicated session to do this.
3. Play
Every Sunday the Drama Club would gather in an open space and spend two hours playing theater games. These games vary from walking like an animal or your favorite Friends character to creating a scene in a group. These games not only helped us improve our professional skills, but they did something greater. They brought us together as a team. We had fun together and created memories which we would often look back upon. The process of playing together created a bond of a shared experience within the team. At Sumo Logic, we follow a similar principle. Our “extra-curricular” activities include blind taste tests, ceramic painting classes, and jigsaw puzzle relays.
These events are a chance to bring the team members closer to one another. It is what makes working in the team enjoyable. Other teams can learn from this strategy and pencil in some “fun-time” in their calendars where they spend time as a group on non-work related activities. Find a common interest and invest in building a shared experience.
