Breaking down a problem

One of the most important skills of a designer is the ability to break down a problem into coherent building blocks. Unfortunately, I find most designers struggle with this task. It seems that there is an expectation that breaking a problem down is a PM or Engineering thing to do. This is the kind of thinking that removes designers from positions of authority. (No seat at the table.)

There is real power in breaking down a problem. Whether the building blocks are use cases or features, the act of deconstructing lays the groundwork for prioritization. Designers should practice this part of the job.

I remember 15 years ago, my CEO told me “You are shrewdly tactical”. I wasn’t sure if it was a compliment or an insult, but I think it was related to this topic. The ability to take a complex application or feature and turn it into digestible chunks is essential for a team to align on how to build. The person who does that has wide influence over the product trajectory and the sequence everything gets built.

I wish HCI courses or UX bootcamps spent time on this. I would train people by laying out a large application like GMail or maybe my favorite, the spreadsheet. If I was teaching, I would then help the designer see the experience piece by piece by piece. Then I would help them see how you can make a hierarchy of the experience and categorize everything.

Its easier said than done and I understand that I have decades of experience doing it. Still, we have to start somewhere. Some tips on how to do it.

  • Organize all of the UI elements as separate patterns. Each pattern needs independent programming.
  • Organize use cases in terms of value. Thinking MVP is too broad. You have to lay out how value is unlocked piece by piece by piece.
  • Organize functionality by persona. Some people will need to wait longer than others to get value.
  • Talk with engineering about the “natural order” to build things. Dont build the roof before you build the foundation.
  • Be concise. Brevity is a crucial art for communicating complex situations like these.
  • Be communicative. Everyone wants fingerprints on it. Know what your executives care about. Make sure to get those details in early.
  • You can always build more features later. Try to defer things that can naturally come later.
  • Don’t be afraid to go back and reorganize.

There are so many little things that may be helpful depending on your team and particular mission. The main thing to absorb is that breaking down the problems into smaller pieces and tactically setting up the sequence of events is not just Engineering or PM; designers have to step up.

This is how you get a seat at the table. You have to bring value. How often do you (designers out there) do this task? How confident are you?

If you are already doing this, keep up the good work!

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