When I arrived at Invoca the design team was apprehensive about starting a regular group critique. But they were also not otherwise helping each other, not aware of each others’ projects, not pulling in the same design direction. (This often happens when design leadership is insufficient.) So we fixed that; this presentation was the first step.
Page 1: Let's talk about design critique.Page 2: We'll discuss what it's good for, what's in it for you, and other initialisms.Page 3: Critique is about the work, sure, but it is also about your development as a designer and our development as a team. And team critique is different from the feedback you might get on a design when sharing it with your development team. The development team wants to push the work into a place where they can approve it, adopt it, deliver it. You kind of need to win them over. We have some of those same goals in design critique, but really this is your chance to borrow the brains of your fellow designers to think about the work in additional ways.Page 4: Doing this regularly is valuable – being exposed to how others think about the challenges you are facing broadens your perspective and lets you borrow ideas and skills; regular practice in our safe critique environment means poorly-packaged criticism from others will hurt less.Page 5: It's also helpful to me – since everyone presents, I get to see the work going by, get to provide the same coaching to everyone, get to reinforce our design principles, and can help link the work to the strategy when they seem to be coming apart.Page 6: By now you are wondering how we will organize this and how often you will be expected to present in critique. The following is a presentation I've given at other stops. It seems to be evergreen.Page 7: The central question, on everyone's mind: do I have to?Page 8: Yes. But you have nothing to worry about.Page 9: What is critique?Page 10: Critique is a group conversation about a design. It happens regularly, everyone participates, it's unfailingly constructive, it's conversational, it's about the work, it's not secret, and it always happens.Page 11: It has several benefits to you and me and the team.Page 12: And, of course, it is not…Page 13: …optional. It's not just a drive-by "here it is" – there is always some feedback you want out of it. It's not an opinion-fest – we compare the work to its objectives. It's not approval – it would be a horrible bottleneck if I had to approve everything everyone did. And, critically, it's not personal and it's not pointed. It's about the work and not the presenter.Page 14: Naturally there are some guidelines.Page 15: If you're presenting, remind us where you are in the project and what the goals are. Tell us what we're looking at and what sort of feedback would be helpful. Don't just talk – leave space for people to ask questions, respond, make suggestions. And listen to these, actively. It's the presenter's job to do the right thing with all the feedback. Sometimes that means incorporating it, or trying and discarding it, or ignoring some of it.Page 16: If you are participating, listen to what the presenter has to say. Ask questions. Consider how the work meets its goals, rather than just whether or not you like it. Talk about the work. Make suggestions.Page 17: By now you're less worried about presenting, those guidelines feel pretty good, and more about the details. "Can I wriggle out of this?"Page 18: No, you can't wriggle out. But you don't have to be first. At least not all the time. We will randomize the order of presenters.Page 19: "Sure, but what if I don't have anything to show?" Well, what have you been doing all week? You probably do have something we can help with.Page 20: "The thing I'm working on isn't ready to show." Perfect time to show it, then. What is "ready to show?" Your work is ready to show at any time. There's always some way we can help. Better to see it early when it is not precious than too late when it's harder to stomach changing it.Page 21: Question? Comments? Observations?Page 22: The last slide is a little memory-jogger – looking it over will remind you of all that we've talked about today.
