Opinion
best multidisciplinary teams always seek
outside perspectives rather than
considering their work through the lens
of departmental functions. Team
members are encouraged to respect each
other’s inputs and build upon findings,
avoiding a situation where any one
person’s thinking dominates.
The process of effective design takes
you into unknown and sometimes
uncomfortable territory. But ambiguity
is not necessarily a bad thing. Teams need
to be open-minded and adaptable.
Whether designers, data scientists,
marketers, system architects, project
managers, copywriters or UX specialists,
everyone should work in a collaborative
way that facilitates discussion. This
combined wisdom of different fields
leveraging agile working methodologies
aids understanding and leads to effective
digital transformation – in contrast to
merely jumping on the bandwagon with
the latest fad.
It’s so important not to obsess over the
boundaries between roles: the creative
process is sustained by cross-pollination.
Otherwise, we can get caught in echo
chambers, with our output severely
limited by the bubble that surrounds it.
Ultimately cross-disciplinary teams
provide the best results, while the coming
together of different minds and
personalities adds richness to the overall
experience. Taking a wider view, ideally
via a flat hierarchy, helps to foster
innovation and avoid creative blocks,
blind spots and specialisation bias.
USER TESTING
Alongside a diverse team, it’s critical to
keep the end user front and centre during
the iterative design process. In the
intensity of day-to-day work, with
priorities often shifting and changing, it
is easy to forget about the end user and
the bigger picture. Empathy helps define
the problem and uncover solutions, while
understanding things from a user’s point
of view can improve the process.
But remember that testing must also
take place within the appropriate context.
Too often, we invite users to perform
testing away from their daily life and
it’s important to be ready for them.
Innovation requires you to have courage
and an open mind while you’re progressing
towards the goal, so it’s important to
encourage experimentation, empathy,
curiosity and lateral thinking and avoid
bias. In this way, individuals who can see
the bigger picture are valuable assets.
By combining the analytical and
information-driven approach of science
with design’s creative ways of thinking,
you can build business solutions with
meaningful impact. What’s more, if
design is a driver for business growth –
which it is – it’s critical to communicate
when you’re developing business strategy
and understanding the broad range of
disciplines involved in web design and
product launch. Working in this way, we
can deliver services of real value at a time
when digital transformation is occurring
at breakneck speed.routine. This might give a partial
perspective. For a fuller view, it’s
important to be where the users are so
that they can live and experience the
products and services that are being built.
Testing can reveal insights that redefine
the problem. And, ver y often, you’ll find
actionable insights not through superficial
observation but deep probing over a
meaningful period of time within the
right context.OVERALL CONTEXT
Think about the end product or service
in the context of the business or setting
in which it w il l operate. Choose tools and
technology that fit within the client so
the products you build have a greater
chance of survival. Taking a holistic
approach where you consider the context
of any business problem and view it from
multiple perspectives is the only way to
develop products and services that are fit
for purpose.
But be prepared for constant change
and embrace it in a positive way:
unforeseen circumstances will arise and PROFILE
Cuda is technology director at ustwo. She has held
engineering roles for over 10 years spanning from
web to mobile.