Boxes And Arrows : The Design Behind the Design

Article Idea:

When to Let Go of Perfection: A True Story of Learning First and Polishing Later

suggested by Dawn Nidy on 2009/12/29

I’d like to talk about my personal journey of letting go as a designer. I launched a design that I knew wasn’t perfect to get early learnings while we proved if the business was viable. I didn’t do this in the lab. I did this by launching a product and having real people use it with their real data. I’ll talk about why I did it this way, what I learned, and what challenges I faced.

In the next version, I dramatically improved the design after diligently learning from my earlier attempt. It was a big risk to publish a design that I knew wasn’t quite there yet. But I strongly believe I ended up with a better result than I would have otherwise. I also earned the trust and respect of my business partners by not overinvesting in the design process too soon.

I’d like to talk about when I think this approach is appropriate for others to follow and what the merits are of doing it this way.