Soft Commit Isn’t

I once had a chance to work with a designer who would refuse to commit to any timeline for his deliverables. Every week we’d meet on Monday as a project team, together with the PM, and give our feedback and voice our concerns about the designs. And then I or someone else would ask, “so when will we see these changes?” And every week, the answer would be the same: “oh, by the middle of next week or so… ” and then the next week would roll by, and minimal to none of the changes were made, and the game would be repeated once more.

This is the extreme example of what I’d call a “soft commit.”

After about 6 months of blowing through deadline after deadline, of “misunderstanding” and “not having enough time” and various other nonsense, I had to step in the 11th hour and make the changes personally. It took about 3 hours of focused work to redo the entire set of wireframes from scratch, adhering to our research-proven design standards and existing React components.

The designer in question was finally let go shortly thereafter.

Here’s the real butcher’s bill of 6 months of aggravation we had dealing with this self-styled master of the “soft commit” :

• 24 1-hour meetings with six people on the call: 144 hours
• 40 hours for two people creating user research reports supporting our concerns: 80 hours
• 6 months of working hours for the “soft commit” master: 960 hours
• TOTAL: 1184 hours (roughly $118,400)

And this is just the cost in net hours — the real cost, including damage to morale and our ability to execute as a team, was much higher.

This leads me to suggest a different strategy:

Set real deadlines and impose real consequences. It’s time we stop talking about designers as though they are mentally disabled kids and cannot be relied upon to meet their commitments. Designers are not “special” in any way because they are “creative.” The entire team succeeds or fails as one unit.

As a designer, make your word binding. Treat timeline requirements as you do design requirements — because that’s what they are. A perfect design solution that is 6 months too late is no solution at all. As a designer, yours is often the first deliverable in shipping a product or feature. If you have to violate your commitments, take the time to understand the impact of your actions on the team’s overall deliverables and productivity. And for gosh’s sake, clearly communicate to everyone involved way ahead of time!

As a UX Manager, if a designer keeps giving you “soft commits” and fails to deliver on the critical deadlines, it’s a clear sign that the relationship is not working. Don’t wait until the cost of keeping someone who does not help you ship outweighs the cost of hiring and training a replacement. Everyone on the team is in the same boat as far as the shipping working code is concerned. No one should be “special.” If someone clearly does not share in your team’s vision, commitment, and sense of urgency, just cut the rotting limb off the tree — the rest of the team will thank you for it.