How to become fearless and accelerate your design process
Once you get used to the pain you are free to create. This will help you build that skill.
My credibility was on the line.
Five yellow paper squares were all I had to defend my honour.
I could have used six. Maybe seven.
I’d definitely missed a crucial step and I was going to pay. Big time.
My mouth was dry.
I shouldn’t have come. I didn’t need to prove myself to these people.
But it was too late. I was up next.
Next to be shamed. Just like everyone else before me that day.
There was nowhere to hide.
So, as the heat rose in my face, and the sweat dripped down my back, I stepped up to the chopping block/whiteboard.
It was a UX Design workshop and we were playing the Bullshit Game.
Why do this to yourself?
I wanted to push myself and become a better designer.
I wanted to embrace uncertainty, lean into my weaknesses and discover new ways of working.
I love learning. Don’t you?
I’m always pouring over books and blogs, listening to podcasts, soaking up everything I can.
That’s why I signed up for this one day course: to accelerate my learning.
The discomfort of learning
Of course the learning part is great.
Discovering new techniques. Revealing the master’s secrets. Expanding your knowledge.
Bring it on.
What’s not so great, is when you find out you suck at something.
Also known as the learning gap.
When you find out that your way is old or broken or even defective and the new way feels out of reach.
Ignorance is bliss, as they say.
Like when the iPhone changed everything.
I got started in design way back before the iPhone. Back then, we considered different screen sizes, but there was no mobile screen to worry about.
Then one day we all looked up from our screens and realised, these websites we were making didn’t work on mobile.
So we started getting our head around responsive design. And while now it’s second nature, back then it was like wading through thick mud.
Every little step had become two steps.
Familiar design patterns were failing. We had to learn new ones.
Learning and adapting isn't always fun.
But the real struggle is inside your own head
You start to wonder if you’re up to the task.
Can you even bridge that gap?
Imposter Syndrome sets in.
What if I can’t do this?
How long have I been doing it all wrong?
Can I ever recover?
Is my career over?
What will they think of me?
All these thoughts were flooding through my head as I stood at the front of the room and stuck my five little post-it notes up on the wall.
Here we go, I said to myself.
What exactly is the Bullshit Game?
In the Bullshit Game, you quickly draw out a customer story on post-it notes. One step per note. You’ve only got a few minutes to do this. Then you present it to the group.
It’s supposed to help you quickly understand all the steps your potential customer would go through to use the product you’re designing. For example, downloading the cool new app you just thought of, or signing up for a free trial of your software.
So far, so good.
But in the Bullshit Game, you must stand with your back to the audience, as you describe the journey you’ve drawn up.
This makes it easier for the audience behind you to yell ‘Bullshit!’ any time you make an assumption about what your user would do next.
Ouch.
Sometimes people avoid sharing valuable feedback because they either don’t want to hurt your feelings or they feel like if they point out a problem, they’d also have to provide a better solution.
Not so in the Bullshit game.
Here it’s all anonymous, loud, cut-throat feedback and you’ve got to wear it.
Bullshit!
Yes, it’s horrible.
Not least because this is the highlight of the day for the instructor with the loud voice and the even louder novelty shirt.
(Oh man. That guy loved to tear out your heart and feed it to the crowd.)
Why would you do this?
Why am I sharing this horrible game with you?
Because it’s actually brilliant.
And because we’re designers.
We’re not artists.
We’re not here to indulge in self-expression.
We create with purpose.
As Seth Godin says, we ask “Who’s it for?” and “What’s it for?”
Then we make that.
The sooner we eliminate our assumptions the easier life becomes for our users.
And the more comfortable we are with cold, hard feedback, the less attached we are to our work, and the more focused we can be on solving the problem.
In the Bullshit Game, you haven’t got time to make it perfect, and your team will not hesitate to let you know. This removes ego, builds resilience and helps you get comfortable with failing.
This is Design Thinking.
Who’s it for? What’s it for?
It’s all part of the process of becoming a better designer.
The Bullshit Game: how to play
So if you’re up for it, here’s how to play the Bullshit Game.
Gather a team of five or six. Include designers and non-designers too.
Set a small, specific task. For example, design the sign up process for your new app.
Armed with pens and post-it notes, give everyone 5 minutes to sketch out (on their own) all the steps it will take a person to complete the given task. One step per post-it note.
When the five minutes are up, take turns to share what you’ve got. When sharing, you stick your notes up on the wall, and talk through each step. Keep your back to the group.
When listening, stand behind the presenter and call ‘Bullshit!’ in a loud and obnoxious way any time you think the presenter skips a step. Okay, you don’t have to be loud or obnoxious, but keep it blunt. Don’t try to suggest or explain or solve at this point. Highlight the gap, then let them keep presenting. For example, people will typically start their story at the sign up screen. Bullshit! (How does a user get there? You’ve got to put in every step.)
Once everyone has presented, go back to step 3 to revise. Each person should have collected some useful feedback. Use it to improve your work, then each person presents again.
And yes, stealing is allowed. You think Sally nailed step three? Use it. You’re all on the same team, so actually it’s not stealing, it’s collaborating.
Sorry, not sorry
It can take a little getting used to.
Designers: you won’t like exposing your process and opening yourself up to criticism. (Actually, the team will be less focused on your drawings and more impressed by the way you think.)
Non-designers: you might feel intimidated and worried that your stick figures are not good enough. (Actually, stick figures are the best kind, and your perspective from outside the design world is refreshing.)
Managers: it’s going to be loud and messy, and you might think it’s easier to leave the designers to sit and sketch in the corner. Or you might find it helps build trust and teamwork which can improve the work in ways you never imagined.
How did I go when it was my turn up front?
Lots of Bullshit!
Turns out I wasn’t able to design a perfect user journey for a brand new product I’d never heard of in under five minutes.
Which is entirely the point.
(And I didn’t get executed either, which, I feel, was also important.)
But after just a couple of rounds I had designed a pretty good solution that would normally take multiple days and countless discussions.
We’re not designers because we have all the answers.
We’re designers because we’re not afraid of the questions.
We make something, give it a run, and see if it holds together.
Then we make it better.
Which is what makes us better.
The Bullshit Game is not for everyone
Try it out with a bunch of people you trust and have a laugh.
Or go to another city and do it in a workshop with people you’ll never see again.
Either way, the idea is you won’t get it right the first time. And your team won’t play nice.
The point is to find problems and fix them.
The faster you do that, the faster your work improves and the faster you improve too.
And anyone who thinks they can’t improve, well, that’s Bullshit.
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Photo by Christian Sterk on Unsplash
