Show Your Work

A weird thing has happened in software design. We seem to have largely decided that showing the exhaustive process of design is impressive.

When a writer shows his work he doesn’t show the scraps of paper he wrote ideas on or the 25 redrafts before the final version. They might when pressed talk about how they had to rewrite act 2 because their editor said it was boring.

When a carpenter shows you the chair they made they don’t show you the 4 dovetail joints they did wrong. They might show a concept drawing or two, they might, if pressed, talk about how they had to adapt the design because the wood kept warping.

So why do software designers insist on showing every affinity map, every user flow diagram and every persona artefact that went into a finished design?

Don't get me wrong, including a few key pieces helps to illustrate the story of how a key decision got made. You should certainly keep a good record of what you did and why. But mostly this isn't for public presentation. Too often it seems like we are spending 10 minutes showing people how we sharpen our pencils and 30 seconds showing you the work (diagonally aligned).

Show your work. Be proud of it. Explain how you got there. But don’t get confused. We are here to see your best work. Not the work that leads to the work.

I think we want to communicate that we understand the process of how design should be done. We know ALL THE STEPS and can do them (look!). The problem with that is… if the work isn't good we don't care about the process. If your work is amazing then.. who cares how you got there?

Be ready to talk about the process.

But show the work.

"Curate your material, and present only that which helps you present a coherent narrative. Focus on the key phases of your process, and on convincing the audience that your solution is truly inspired."

(Sung Jang, Martin Thaler, and Matthew Frederick, 101 Things I Learned® in Product Design School)