Eclecticism and product process
Steal ideas, try them, find out what works and check your assumptions at the door. Treat the way you collaborate like a prototype. Find low-cost, low-risk ways to experiment and optimize.
What is Eclecticism?
“Eclecticism is a conceptual approach that does not hold rigidly to a single paradigm or set of assumptions, but instead draws upon multiple theories, styles, or ideas to gain complementary insights into a subject, or applies different theories in particular cases. However, this is often without conventions or rules dictating how or which theories were combined.” — Wikipedia
The beauty of Eclecticism is that it trades rules for understanding value in different approaches. It looks at beauty, design, and process and doesn’t ask if certain ideas fit a mold or existing culture. It examines the benefits of what’s different. It steals and combines in unexpected ways. Sometimes it creates dissonance, and sometimes it creates awe.
As a concept, it can be most easily understood by looking at examples in architecture. But it also applies to everything from parenting to martial arts. At its core, it is shelving of existing structures and beliefs to be open to new ideas, or those that have been ignored in the past.
This is nothing new.
Stealing and breaking historical boundary lines stems from philosophy in Greek and Roman times. It’s a through-line in innovation wherever innovation happens. It’s a concept rooted in ancient texts:
“…there is nothing new under the sun.”— Ecclesiastes 1:9
Fact is, I will not think or write anything new. There are so many brilliant writers, artists, philosophers and designers who have fantastic ideas. The rest of us only need to keep our eyes open and absorb the wisdom.
Nothing new under the sun sounds depressing at first read. But it also contains an uplifting truth; everything is under the sun waiting to be discovered and combined in new ways. You can find bottomless ideas and potential solutions. So search, understand and apply.
Start stealing, today.
For me, successful stealing (or borrowing) first needs a source of inspiration. One way to find inspiration is to ask your friends what inspires them. Go down those rabbit holes and see what you uncover. Another method is to look around you, find work that your respect, find out who made that happen, and see if you can learn about their process.
One example for me started with my first team at IBM in 2014. As IBM Design was spinning up, artifacts from key designers in IBM’s legacy like Paul Rand and Charles and Ray Eames began to circulate. I had skimmed their work in school, but being immersed in a culture built upon their tried and true design breathed new life into the textbooks. Rand inspired me to explore simple shapes (I created geometric caricatures for my team) and learn more about what makes design timeless. The Eames introduced me to the concept of a designer’s primary role as a good host, and that’s now part of my ethos (captured on my personal site).
Prototype, test, keep the best.
So start looking around you at other designers, developers you work with, and your agile coach if you’re lucky enough to work alongside one. What do they do that makes them successful? How does an engineering team measure and consistently hit deadlines with high levels of quality? How does your product manager sell ideas and prove value pre- and post-launch?
Designers should certainly work to become masters of their craft. But they also need to move beyond the production of pixels to understand how ideas are shaped, sold and shipped. That’s where empathy and our unique understanding of people can gain ground and see the light of day.
The true skillset.
Seth Godin defines these skills as “Real skills”. Not soft skills or secondary skills. Typography, layout, Sketch and prototyping are definitely crucial to be a successful and valuable designer. But those skills are becoming less and less rare as designing becomes easier, more automated and faster. Consider the role of the original “designer”, the typesetter. Originally, that job was extremely rare, time-consuming, and skill-intensive. It paid very well. Then computers came along, and now it’s automated, and typesetting has largely become a hobby if anything. So what’s next for the designer to remain crucial?
Whenever I interview candidates, a portfolio quickly sets the bar for hard skills (color theory, typography, layout, accessibility). But the real conversation centers around real skills. How do you convince stakeholders? How do you push conflict towards a better understanding of the user? How do you present ideas and inspire teammates? How do you work together with developers, other disciplines and executives?
Success means being able to learn what works and quickly identify what doesn’t. It means having empathy and being able to look around you and steal even if something is outside of the current structure. Everything else can be taught on the job fairly easily. A mindset of Eclecticism can be grown, but it can also easily be dismissed by our internal voices. It’s very easy to shut down those ideas that seem not to fit or those questions you feel will guide a conversation into a space you aren’t an expert in. It takes boldness to be open to new ideas. To recognize something as different without glossing over the hidden value.
This won’t always work.
One of my favorite product process concepts is to fail fast, fail cheap. Some would say learn fast, learn cheap. However you phrase it, the idea is to iterate quickly and get something in the hands of a real person. Once real people see your product, whether it’s actually shipped or it’s a prototype being tested, learning begins and failure can be quickly identified.
Treat your team’s process as a product. Find ways to grab nuggets from great creators in any field. Try them, measure success or failure, ask the team how change feels, decide whether to continue or cancel. Rinse and repeat. Maintain empathy for your user and your team as you all work to create better things and a better place to work together.
If you have any nuggets you’d care to share, please do in the comments! Thank you.
