Principles for design governance

What’s design governance? It’s how I think about the structures of power and decision making that shape design, particularly in the complex and fast moving agency world, where products are being built on demand for external clients. These principles are often true for internal design teams as well, or anyone who has to advocate for best practices while collaborating with other teams.

• Trust the experts in the areas of their expertise.
• If you don’t trust the experts, say so and say why.
• Trust your own experience and expertise.
• Accept your own limitations and seek out expert partners.
• Be accepting and trusting of information users provide about their problems.
• Be skeptical of solutions users provide for their problems.
• Be super skeptical of solutions management or owners provide for user problems.
• When confronted with doubt, listen.
• When confronted with doubt, show your work (in a simple, straightforward way).
• The deliverables build the product.
• Each deliverable takes time.
• A product launch is not Zeno’s paradox: infinite deliverables are not required.
• One test provides exponentially more information than zero tests.
• Decision-making capability is a resource, and it should not be wasted.
• Once a decision has been made, it should at least be tested before it is reversed or discarded.
• Progress takes time, and is accomplished by taking incremental steps forward and avoiding steps back.
• There is no such thing as expert information. There’s just simple information idiosyncratically arranged. More than specific items of information, experts understand the system of arrangement in their field.