I’m paraphrasing a bit, but here are a few tasty bits from a recent conversation I had with a designer of home appliances.

nugget: In order to elevate design as a discipline within the corporation, you need to demonstrate exactly how design solves the executives’ pains.

my reaction: This isn’t as easy as it sounds. This means more than just a laundrylist of why we designers believe design is important, or even a nice ROI chart. Rather the argument must be in their language, speak from their perspective, and must truly understand their more dire pains and empathize with them. To paraphrase an former business school professor of mine, understand your customer’s real pains and you’ve already made the sale.

nugget: The artifact walk-through

my reaction: Learn about the decision maker process of your managers and executives by taking a recently completed product (or other artifact) and walking through with them their decisions and contributions to making it what it is. This will help make the discussion concrete, and take the microscope of them and put it on the artifact (which should make them feel much less threatened and help them open up).

As Emily Dickinson wrote “tell all the truth, but tell it slant,” it seems when studying people we need to “ask the
truth, but ask it slant”