When Lemmings Design
Just because everyone else does it one way, doesn’t mean it’s the right way. Conforming to mediocrity does not lead to success, just mediocrity. Consider the iPod. Apple entered a market saturated with almost 100 different MP3 players with ever flattening sales curves. Many thought little of the Apple’s paradigm beyond it’s elegant packaging, but 10 years later, can you remember any of the 100 other MP3 players? Ummm, I thought not.
A true measure of success is found in Apple’s ability to repeat its market dominating successes. The iPhone completely changed the somewhat mature smartphone market it entered into. Only Apple’s shortsighted alliance with an unpopular service provider (decorum suggests that I refrain from mentioning AT&T in this blog) limited its dominance of that market. The jury is still out on the iPad, but my money is on Apple. This kind of repeat success lies in their ability to successfully challenge commonly held assumptions, and avoiding conforming to mediocre paradigms. But not everyone is so inclined to keep an open mind.
As a consultant, with every new project comes the same old challenge, convincing the client’s developers that there are other ways to solve a design problem. When presented with a “novel” design approach, the same tired argument inevitably arises “but nobody else does it that way.”
Developers with a decade or so of experience are often the most likely purveyors of this lemming perspective. They have become so ingrained with the typical mediocrity that they assume it’s the gold standard, so when presented with a novel approach, the immediate reaction is aversion. Never mind the fact that two decades of highly successful design experience across many different domains is responsible for the “novel” approach. After years of designing software, developers tend to developed canned solutions to common design issues and are unprepared to face a challenge to such “trivial” matters.
I believe, the solution is to remove “design” from the developers’ responsibilities and let designers design the products. Developers are not designers. They are developers. Leave them to developing and great things will happen. Relying on their design skills leads to mediocrity. Don’t mistake this as a rant against developers. It’s actually an indictment on typical (mis)management perspectives that allows developers to design. Do you think Apple relies on developers to design their products?
Do I think Apple has the perfect design team? No, of course not, but they do a VERY good job. Do you think your “designers” could compete with Apple? If not, then maybe you need to try a different perspective. Find someone other than your developers to design your products. If you don’t, your competitors will, and you will henceforth struggle to catch up or you’ll just fall off the cliff following the other lemmings.
