Constraints Within Digital Transformation

We are creatures of habit, and change can be hard to embrace, especially when moving the dial means expending time, money, and emotional heartache. Inevitably, the digital age pushes us to return to systems and processes that we’re rooted in to answer the call of iteration. Stakeholders dream of scalability, developers attempt to meet the demands of productivity culture, and early adopters hope that what is eventually delivered will be a solution that exceeds expectations.

No matter what form your designs take, there are a few universal truths worth stating that we sometimes take for granted:

1. All creation is human consumption. Design should always be human-focused.
2. It is easy to assume how humans will use or consume what you’ve created, but nearly impossible to predict.
3. When designing for the human experience, there are no stupid questions.

Constraints like time are always at a premium. Have you ever invited company over but realized too late in the day that you forgot to thaw the meat for dinner? Sure, you could rush to the store, rush back, and prepare a fantastic meal, but this assumes that your company has any level of preference. Perhaps they already ate, can’t eat what you’ve made due to an allergen, or otherwise. Surely, it’s worse to get it wrong and disappoint than to pause an ask. In this example, you’re especially designing for human consumption.

Solving a complex problem doesn’t always require a complex solution, but who is to say how long it might take to reach that ‘ah ha!’ moment? In the interest of time, talk to as many of the humans you expect to engage with your design as early in the development process as possible. These folx will not only thank you for involving them in conceptualizing your work, but your end product will feature solutions that more wholistically serve the needs of your client base.

Ask questions of more technical individuals, even if they seem silly. Ask non-technical users what they think of a thing, and they will tell you what they can. Rather quickly, you will be asked a question to which you do not know the answer. Unanswerable questions are what drives innovation. Often, they’re only unanswerable for a short period of time.

If you spend all your time trying to cover each potential outcome, you’ll never succeed. Watch how people engage with your work, ask questions, and respond accordingly, and you might just save yourself some time, money, and emotional heartache. Unfortunately, the half-life of technology is such that if you're not moving with the pack, you’re very quickly behind.

written by Brynna Exley
August 2024