#65: The persistent temptations of more and other distracting things
Beware of shiny, new objects
Hi friends,
Writing this from my dining room table on a weekend. It’s a pleasure to share this for I think about this issue a lot on my professional AND personal life. It is one of those things I simply can’t turn off. I attempted to write about this previously: #39: On Saying Yes and Having More but I think this version is so much clearer. Enjoy!
MORE != Better?
In the technology industry, it is no secret that things move fast. Everyday, there’s probably millions and millions of code being written that eventually gets turned into products, thanks to AI, companies, communities and independent makers. Which means we have virtually no shortage of tools to get our hands on, in this day and age.
This is great right? In theory, we have an abundance of resources to solve problems from a creative standpoint, or arguably, from any if not most standpoint.
Applying this logic to the design world, I have my doubts. Because if this is even remotely true, then why do we still have the same problems as we do a decade ago, perhaps even farther? Why is the design process still widely misunderstood (and misused) in a lot of companies? Although now, thankfully, there’s a lot of evidence pointing to the contrary. Still, why is the act of collaboration (remote and in-person) still not as smooth as it should be considering we live in the time of powerful and robust cloud-based softwares such as Figma/Figjam, Miro, Freehand etc.?
I could go on and on. Perhaps, there’s no simple answer to these questions. There’s a lot of factors (e.g leadership, talent pool, education, culture, technology literacy, ux maturity, geography etc) that come into play and it could very well be that at the end of the day, perfection (in process, product and people) is not the goal (and shouldn’t be). Rather, it should be impact, which I can simplify to this: why we do the work that we do, for whom, for what and why it matters that we, not just do it, but actually do it right in the shortest amount of time possible.
It’s almost impossible to get to that mindset because of the temptation of more. It is all-too familiar:
‘I need to read more articles before I conduct this ux research method…’
‘One more plugin to use on Figma to really optimize my workflow…’
‘Our process will improve with yet another reference to what a UX design process should be…’
‘One more inspiration from some site/someone else’s work…’
‘Another book in my cart and then I’ll feel like the expert that I am!’ — hah so guilty of this myself
and on and on
Say no to UX theaters
More is not the answer. It can’t be the answer if true competence and technical understanding is present. In fact, the act of adding more things—whether or not it is time, resource or maybe people—is distracting to me, personally. If I am looking to scale something, this will be a completely different conversation. But if I am designing a proof of concept of a potential solution, I would prefer to have only two milestones to start:
Get it in the hands of the people I’m designing it for
Do it in the shortest amount of time possible using the least amount for resources, for now
No charades, no theater, limit back-and-forths and fruitless arguments about which component is for what. Formulating a theory, applying that theory to a workable design (or a close imitation of that perceived end state) and testing that theory rigorously until you get a good grasp of what’s working and what is not. This, to me, is practical and sensible. It also prevents an extremely costly cycle of analysis paralysis that is not uncommon with product teams.
The upside to constraint is focus
And in this economy, staying flexible, resourceful and cost-aware, especially with everything we do is extremely necessary. When there’s too many options, too much paths and decisions to make, hardly anything worthy gets done. Or even if they do, they’re hardly for the right things.
Working with less is a welcome constraint. It’s not just because of the tumultuous economy that we’re experiencing the United States. But it’s also a prime reminder, a wake up call, a pivot towards a more focused, less wasteful and a more conscious world we’re heading towards.
Everything you need to do what you have to do is probably within you already.
Of shiny, new objects
I am not against further education, most especially if the problem space calls for it. This is not to say that acquiring a plethora of useful knowledge is useless to innovation. Quite the opposite.
This is about knowing when to make decisions when data is not enough, when to apply intuition where it matters the most and most importantly, how to execute masterfully with the most basic tools when time, money, energy and resource is not on your side. You can’t do with if you are always looking externally, all the time. You can’t do this if you are in a constant state of FOMO with whatever article, conference video, podcast episode that comes out. You can’t do this by adding more to an already flawed and cluttered brain.
You can only do this with deep focus, a little bit of luck and a lot of flow. And this is a state that is worth striving for everyday as an Individual Contributor to any team, or even to our own personal lives.
Related reads:
Magical things happen when your entire self shows up, brain and body working together, side-by-side. Untethered by the burdens of the past, unbothered by the distractions of the present. This is, after all, the best of what any of us can give, right?
Start with what you have, and move forward. Creativity will help you get from 0-11, if you are truly—and I mean, truly—serious about developing it as a lifelong skill.
As I’m thinking about this, a really memorable quote from Derek Sivers came to my mind. It is the most appropriate ending to this essay, thank you Derek.
“If more information was the answer, we'd all be billionaires with perfect abs” – Derek Sivers, quote taken from the book ‘Tools of Titans’ by Tim Ferriss
Thank you for reading working title,
Nikki
P.S: If you have a quick second, Would love your thoughts, feedback on my platform - this would help me understand what topics to prioritize, among many other things
Good, old classics on this topic:
You can't fix core competency with a stern conversation by David Heinemeier Hansson
A Framework for Making Better Product Decisions by Laura Klein
How to decide by Annie Duke — what a classic book for decision making
The Anatomy of a Great Decision from Farnam Street - Shane’s newsletter is one of the best out there for high quality writing for people who love thinking
A raw, unedited note from my private notes:
‘Experience is priceless. Time spent doing something, feeling something, that is the point of living. Especially if you get to share it with rhe people you love the most.’
First learned about this idea from the book, ‘Zero to One’ by Peter Thiel. Although I don’t agree with a few of his points in the book, I still found it incredibly thought-provoking and a worthwhile use of my time, then and now. 0-1 refers to that one-in-a-company’s lifetime moment of turning a thing from an idea to a radically new business model that typically leads to a monopoly. (I’m defining this in my own words, obviously, if you’re curious, you can read more about it via that book or elsewhere.)