Your Inner Three-Year-Old
A short extract from my current read, Mental Models…
Adult: If you’re not going to finish your milk, please put your sippy cup in the refrigerator.
Toddler: Why?
Adult: That’s what we do. We put it there so it won’t go bad.
Toddler: Why?
Adult: Well, it will start to smell bad and eventually grow mould.
Toddler: What’s mould?
Adult: It’s slimy black stuff that will grow in your sippy cup if you leave it out on the counter.
Toddler: Why?…
What a great metaphor! As creators of things I don’t feel we ask “why?” nearly enough.
Why?
The theory is that as we grow up, we gain a sense of pride that makes us more sensitive to challenging our elders. But in design, we need to retain that inquisitive attitude when we talk to stakeholders, colleagues, clients or users so that we learn the real facts.
Listening and prompting allows us to get to the bottom of things and this gives us the knowledge to design something even better; to exceed expectations.
Why?
Often what’s suggested isn’t what’s actually needed. We’ve all heard colleagues say: “I’m no designer but… we need this”. Or maybe when interviewing users: “I think I would do this”. Asking “why?” allows us to understand more about their rationale. Maybe it’s not the colleagues job to think things through and their idea isn’t the right solution. And the user interviewee may be telling you what they think they should say, rather than what they would actually do.
Open questions open a dialogue allowing designers to get to the bottom of wicked problems, in turn allowing us to craft wicked solutions.
So this is your excuse as a designer - find your inner three-year-old. It maybe unnatural for us to ask why and it can be daunting. But why?.. What’s the worst that can happen?
