Without question, collaborative document editing for teams building products is here to stay. This shift has to do more with how companies operate than the product development process. When you think of collaborative software like Google Docs, GitHub, and Figma, they took the model of local-first software and make gave more access to people in the org to do work together. 65% of Figma’s users are non-designers, 3x’ing the amount of people using the design tool¹.

Collaboration has revolutionized the way work is done. However, what I see get lost in the midst for doing work together real-time is time for people to think and develop a point of view. Frank Bach, Principal Product Designer at Headspace articulated this well in a tweet.

Frank ☼ Bach @zendadddy

Something I see designers struggle with is not being comfortable with their own point of view. It's ok to have an opinion. It's also ok if that opinion is later 'wrong' and you change your mind.

August 29th 2022

15 Retweets190 Likes

My hypothesis is by increasing the contrast of developing your personal point of view combined with collaboration can result in better team outcomes. Let's cover some details of each one and what you (and your team) can do to mature these practices.

Individual point of view (POV)

Having a strong point of view develops conviction what you believe in. Having a strong point of view doesn’t mean you need to act like the former CEO of Bolt. It’s about shining a beacon on what you believe and your point of view. People who have a strong POV can also be very open to collaboration (avoid binary thinking). It's a way to share your observations on and your ability to pass on what you learn and share your point of view faster while embracing diversity of thought.

Pitfalls of individual POV

Though a strong POV is important, being open to integration points and feedback is key. This could be design critique, a pull request on GitHub, or product review. It's critical to remember to share your POV as you're working on it to ensure it can be integrated.

Tools I use for individual POV purposes

I use tools that are local-first or physical, and I may share snippets of the content to form an artifact vs. sharing the the entirety as an artifact. Some tools I enjoy:

• Pen and paper²

• Excalidraw

• Muse

• Obsidian

• MindNode

Collaboration

Collaboration is the action of working with someone to produce or create something. Whether it's a sports or product team, teamwork and collaboration is crucial in teamwork and achieve a shared outcome. As the African Proverb goes, "“If you want to go fast, go alone, if you want to go far, go together”. The super power of collaboration is thinking through ideas together, getting inputs, and unstuck.

When you're stuck or needing a lot of inputs, there is no better way than putting everything on the desktop to work together. I'm a huge believer in pair programming/design, workshopping, and diverging to de-risk.

Pitfalls of collaboration

The biggest challenge in collaboration is what I call “The Convergence Melting Pot.” This phenomenon occurs when individual points of view get lost in collaboration and all inputs blend together. Avoid shipping "yes and…" whenever possible. Over-collaboration can result in unclear next steps or decisions. Who out of the entire group is the decision maker to move the work forward? Who will be held accountable for the outcomes?

Tools I use for collaboration

The properties of great collaboration tools is a shared canvas, the ability to comment, and early visibility. A few collaborative tools I enjoy are:

• Figma

• Figjam or Miro

• Google Docs

• Eraser

• Gather

Using both effectively

Developing an independent POV and collaboration are effective tools to use and works better when the contrast between them is clear. Here are two suggestions on how to use the two effectively without blending them.

Inputs over infusion

What occurs frequently in collaboration is what I like to call "the melting pot effect." Like a fondue, a melting pot infuses and mixes everything as one thing. What results is what were clear inputs are blended in a something less intentional. Don’t build the car Homer Simpsons tried to build.

Instead of a Convergence Melting Pot, keep in inputs clear and work together to make decisions. The power of collaboration occurs when there are inputs and diverse points of view. Without diversity of thought, you’re no considering everything. Instead of a melting pot model, I prefer an input model.

Build your POV doc

On habit I'm forming is building my POV doc on topics to share with people. It's specific and personal—used for an input for people to consider and make decisions. The nice aspect of a POV doc is often we are verbalizing our point of view without it being memorialized anywhere. I call the POV doc my Credo, the latin word for "I believe." Your POV/Credo can be an input that influences a decision made and there is a clear correlation to it.

When crafting a POV doc:

• Your values and philosophy

• Objective observations captured

• Your point of view on how to move forward (backed with rationale)

• How strongly you feel (ex: I'm 90% confident in this direction)

• Where you're unsure and open to debate

Your POV doc can be a high level concept, such as “Visual Programming” or can be part of a Design Brief you generate.

Develop a POV, share before collaborating, and decide

In a world of easy access to multiplayer and real time collaboration, it's easy to forget to establish your point of view. Developing your point of view and collaboration are both important. Make time to balance both and use them when they are most valuable.

I highly recommend reading the book Design at Work by Joan Greenbaum and Morten Kyng. Warning, it’s a great ready but heavy—making Thinking Fast and Slow seem breezy like a one-sitting read of a Goosebumps book.

Collaboration isn't a nice-to-have, it's essential. That said, get the right inputs, ensure perspectives are heard, and make the decision.Maximize it by developing your own POV to understand your perspective and those of your colleagues.

Tweet of the week

Pavel A. Samsonov @PavelASamsonov

As a designer you must take every pain to learn your users' mental model, so you can intentionally make decisions about -when to adapt the design to user expectations -when to take extra pains to educate the user on deviations If you're not doing this, then what are you doing

September 24th 2022

34 Retweets183 Likes

Hype links

• Mesh Lin featured on Workspaces.xyz

• The reverse pitch: How VCs win hot deals

• Slack’s brand-new feature has an unexpectedly rich backstory

• I think I triggered some fellow millennials here lol

Notes

• I used Eraser to draw the diagrams in this post