A Call for An Open Approach

In my rookie days, I worked helter skelter with a bunch of good willed engineers. I tried my best but hated criticism. I would work alone, preparing my design, consult a few times with my direct lead, then run a concept review followed by the actual design review. Once the design was reviewed by systems, the design was reviewed by the software and test teams. The software and test teams used to be so much behind that they did not see the design until 3 months after it was done by systems. At that point, I was reluctant to make changes. In any case, I received comments as criticism to my work and sought to avoid them.

With more experience, I have tried to involve as many co-workers as possible in my design work. Feedback is a way of canvassing the knowledge in the team to improve the design. At the end of the day, the software team knows what is the simplest implementation, and the test team knows the pain points encountered in previous testing. Obtaining this knowledge and being flexible in modifying the design to incorporate the comments leads to the best design possible. This will also lead to improved thinking and clarity on the part of the designer and will lead to more efficient designs in the future.

I have experienced negative feedback on my approach but only by occasional contributors. These occasional comentors may believe that they are correcting a flawed design while what they are really doing is being a part of the design team on a quest for the best feasible design. People who work with me love this approach as they feel a sense of ownership of the design.

Finally, I would like to comment that this should never be design by consensus. The designer should still spend a lot of time coming up with original approaches and vetting his or her ideas with colleagues until convinced on the best approach. The designer should have the strength of their conviction when discussing the design and push it through if negative feedback is unconvincing. The goal is to always push the envelope within the limits of the solution space.