Air out your assumptions

Dominant culture operates with a sense of urgency. (And that might feel like a big-time understatement, depending on where you work.) In the fields of design and innovation, we consistently feel pressure to deliver yesterday.

As a result, we often jump to producing solutions without taking meaningful time to consider and unpack what’s informing our decisions.

There’s a lot to be said about combatting urgency culture within our organizations. We’ll come back to that soon.

There’s also a lot of work for each of us to do, as individuals, in being aware of the lenses through which we see and interpret the world, and in mitigating potentially harmful biases we bring to our work. We’ll return to this, too. (I know, I know—but this email is supposed to be short and sweet, right? I promise, there’s a ton to come!)

For now, I want to suggest one simple practice for you and your team to do together. Ideally, before a project begins. And before making key design decisions. It’s straightforward, and requires a good dose of self-awareness, honesty, and vulnerability. You ready?

Air out your assumptions.

What do you know—or think you know—about your design topic? What don’t you know? What do you assume is true—and untrue?

These aren’t rhetorical questions, folks. It’s essential to air it all out. Both the assumptions your team has discussed openly and the implicit assumptions that have gone unstated (but sure-as-heck impact your thinking). Write down all of these assumptions informing your work and the decisions you are about to make.

Then, as a team, investigate them. Identify what is true (and how you know that), what might be true (but requires more information to be sure), and what you still need to learn about.

Be honest with yourselves and each other. If you’re going down a specific path because community partners have expressed a desire for it, name that. If you’ve been prioritizing something because your funders require it, call the spade a spade. If you’re into an idea simply because you think it sounds cool, own it.

Only then can your team openly discuss what’s actually relevant and make truly informed decisions.

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