Product design is a combination of multiple fields, from engineers to designers. The constant back and forth between departments, why not set one team loose on the problem until they solve it?
Maybe there is something in team communications that offers perspective to the process
“The way teams work together is a critical factor in their success and designers operating as part of such a team have their part to play in this” according to an article posted on the Interaction Design Foundation titled An Overview of The Factors of Success for New Product Development
Cool. And? Besides, haven’t some of the greatest designers of the past decade been scientists and engineers? Designers like Matias Duarte, Julie Zhou, Jared Spool, and Don Normal all have technical backgrounds as scientists and engineers.
“Design and engineering … One prescribes a solution, the other makes the solution possible” writes Chris Lee in his article Do engineers make for the best product designers?
Lee continues:
[…] “When humans wanted to cross the ocean, we first needed someone to dream about the possibility of being able to cross the ocean on a ship. That person needed to be able to see something that had not yet physically manifested itself in the minds of his or her peers, and design a solution that would fit the ideal version of a solution to the problem. The designer(s) could have been inspired by an engineering breakthrough at the time for nautical travel, or perhaps the then impossible dream of a trans-continental ship is what challenged the engineers to make it feasible” […]
Teamwork and collaboration are key to functional design teams. Other than engineers and designers, who else could be connected?
“Conduct user research, and do it as often as you can. Eventually, you’ll start to see the patterns and common pain points” stated in this Brainstation post titled Finding Inspiration as a Product Designer at Shutterstock
The post continues:
[…] “The Product and UX teams regularly run design sprints to explore new ideas centered around important initiatives. The format is such that it allows breakthroughs in approach that are a few steps beyond just simple iteration. As a company, we also have twice-a-year hackathon events where cross-functional teams come together to build new and exciting things. Many of the projects that have come out of our hackathons have gone on to become part of the Shutterstock platform” […]
Teamwork and communication between multidisciplinary professionals is essential to product design teams. Universal understanding about constraints, expectations, and outcomes are as essential as teamwork to any project.
Tags: design, engineering, product design, UX, information design, shutterstock, Chris Lee, Interaction design foundation, brainstation, designer
Logan Senko 