Too Wet
Designing for more than one project at a time demands its own process. For instance, I find that going from working on one project’s design to working on a different project’s design requires a vital and spacious buffer period.
For me it’s a little like getting out of the pool; the water stays with me for a while. I can’t just hop out and immediately put on a suit, as it will become soaked (corrupted) by the water that is still dripping off me. It takes a while to shake off the water, towel-off, and air dry before I can change clothes and be ready for other stuff.
I wonder—does everyone find this buffer necessary or can some simply flip the switch from project A to project B?
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Comments (6)
I totally hear you. That’s why I never understood how triathletes do it. Cycling is a wet bum! Yuck.
I envy people who can flip the switch so quickly, but I’m not convinced that they are doing tasks as well as they could. Just a short break in between helps.
i find it hard to not bring the “baggage” of the last project over unless i have “dried off” however,, as a business owner i do find that this has become a double standard for the editors i employ. i often find i give them little chance to re coop after a project.. thanks for the reminder we all need to towel dry for a bit
Britt
Agreed. I find it’s much easier to switch from project to project if they are at different stages. Going from design on Project A, to development on Project B, then to wireframing for Project C is manageable.
I’m actually in a situation now where I have 3 projects all at similar phases (wireframing & concept development). Switching gears is definitely a challenge.
@christine – good call on the triathletes analogy! They have an incredibly difficult time switching events. I know some that will begin warming up the muscles they use on the run towards the end of the bike portion to help avoid the shock to the system. I wonder if there’s some correlation we could draw to design…probably not. :)
Hell yes, triathletes analogy +1.
This has bugged me for a while. I would sometimes think of it as “shifting gears” but it’s definitely more like getting on an entirely different vehicle that’s traveling faster/slower than the one you’re on.
A coffee break doesn’t always help, because your mind can still be wondering about Project A. Answering email or reviewing previous work for Project B sometimes helps to smooth the transition.
Definitely agree. I find for larger/longer projects I even need time to decompress. This way, if there was any stress or pressures leftover from the previous project it won’t be translated into the next.
For me, meditation is just as important as active motion/thinking.
Interestingly medical doctors are advised to protect themselves against this, as it causes anchoring, or confirmation bias. [1]
I’ve definitely been that designer. The choices made in the last project are firmly rooted in your mind, so when you hear “We’re considering a newsletter”, you immediately reach for your “newsletter-we-just-just-two-weeks-ago” code rather than take a rational approach to the requirement.
For me, the blame for many big agencies re-producing the same sites over and over again lie between this effect , and in-houses CMS’s. It all encourages what I call “thinking in patterns”[2]
[1] Cooper Journal – Learning from “How Doctors think”
http://www.cooper.com/journal/2008/09/learning_from_how_doctors_think.html
[2] Thinking in Patterns http://www.contrast.ie/blog/thinking-in-patterns/ (apologies for pimping my own post, but it is relevant here)
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