The good, the bad and the advocate

Sometimes it takes strong advocacy to reach goals. A simple typification for the design manager.

“The Good” mediates between disciplines. This person is open-hearted and creates trust in the overall process, considers the work of all participants as a polyphony. Their energy goes into communicating the value of design to stakeholders, promoting design best practices and standards, and helping to resolve conflicts or roadblocks that may arise between design and non-design teams.

“The Bad” leads to a narrow focus on a specific approach or philosophy. This limits of course the ability to consider alternative solutions. In this position we may get more interested in promoting our own personal design philosophy or agenda than in meeting the needs and requirements of the client and their customers.

“The Advocate” can help build consensus around decisions and find common ground with process members. It’s about building bridges, even bypasses, making connections where others may only see barriers.

Design advocacy is about more than just getting approval for a particular design solution. It can overcome stagnation and shake up gridlocked structures; it can help organizations break new ground and enable new thinking. It can …

Sometimes it can help and sometimes it is out of place.