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To become a more trusted designer, ask your team more questions
Designers may know “How” and “What”, but they often don’t know “Why”
“How do you know when to speak up?” A timid designer asked me about a theme I’ve noticed more and more.
Currently, many Designers are terrified and unwilling to rock the boat. They’re afraid they’ll be out of a job and back on the nightmarish market if they make too much noise or slow things down.
Unfortunately, this results in substantial power imbalances between Product, Executives, and Designers.
They watch Engineers make random changes to their designs or Product teams shoot down any suggestions to “improve things beyond the MVP.”
It’s a valid fear: right now, the value of Designers is in question, and even some of the most brilliant designers I know are looking for jobs.
However, you can still learn to push back and do what’s right if you can answer a single question: “Will these actions further the team’s interests?”
The Valuable employee paradox and going beyond opinions
Julie Zhuo, former VP of Design at Meta, recently released the “Valuable Employee Paradox” scale.
