That’s how some people describe the design process. I get it: Running a design project involves answering the question “Now what?” over and over again. Our process isn’t so much a series of well-defined steps as it is knowing how to make an informed decision at each juncture.
It’s not that I don’t plan anything at all. I define activities. I project level of effort. I align tasks and assign team members. I even (gasp) create project plans. But circumstances change. I could do it the exact same way every time, but, if I adhered too closely to a rote process, I would neglect the things I learned along the way. Instead, I constantly assess our progress and redirect our course based on what we’ve learned.
Reality is somewhere in between total chaos and absolute order: The project follows an arc that we’ve planned, but within that arc we take detours and shifts. Modern design approaches give us flexibility without sacrificing goals.
The endurance of ‘making it up’
Why do we perpetuate this myth?
By positioning it this way, it sounds like anyone could do it. That may be true (the debate continues — search Twitter for “everyone is a…
