Vol. 2: design-management.de

First of all I have to correct my statement from last week that 50% of the people I’ve talked to at the recent DMI conference haven’t heard about blogs.

In fact the situation has been slightly different. Yes, I’ve met a lot of people at the latest DMI Conference who haven’t heard about … What? Blogs? or by a similar token have simply heard about stories that bloggers mainly write about their daily digestion status (you know what I mean ;-)

Unfortunately instead of meeting exactly those people in my Leadership Workshop where they could have benefited from getting some insights into the blogosphere the opposite case did actually happen: To a large degree my session has been filled up with people who are actually quite familiar with blogs or even run a blog themself like e.g. Erik. However seeing it from today’s perspective I highly appreciate the critical questions and positive feedback I’ve received from people I’ve really feared to bore.

Furthermore other people I’ve hoped to attract have been absent as well obviously having more important stuff to do … Interestingly throughout the conference many of those approached me by asking questions like this:

“How do you find the time to write all this stuff for your blog while still having to do your REAL work” …

Hey, imagine a book author or academic being asked:

“Why the hell do you waste your time writing a book or a journal article?”

As it seems the often publicised mental shift to Web 2.0 social collaboration has still a long way to go. And this phenomenon seems to be independent from age or nationality/culture since I’ve met several undergraduate (design) students both here in Germany as well an in the US who didn’t have any idea what a blog is about.

However there is some ray of hope because in the meantime I’ve been approached by two senior design managers with a serious request of helping them to set up a blog for their organization in order to facilitate collaboration, share knowledge and demonstrate expertise. I find this attitude both courageous and foresighted!

And today I’ve felt even more affirmed by an excellent blog posting titled “Designers must write” by Canadian designer and blogger Eric Karjaluoto on his blog called “ideasonideas”. Here are two excerpts from his highly recommended and reflective posting:

“I did not make a conscious choice to write as much as I do. It was something I learned to do out of necessity. When you run a firm, there’s never a shortage of situations in which one must write. I spend a large part of my day either writing briefs, rationales, proposals, general correspondence, or even copy for one of our projects. I will likely never be a writer, but at very least, I am not afraid of using language as my work demands.

I find that as my ability to shape both written and oral communication improves, I am better equipped to direct the work of others. I can uncover a verbal method of responding to what I feel emotionally when I view a project. Additionally, I find that these skills allow me to better explore and sort ideas. …

… Pilates for design: Perhaps what we do is much like an athlete, and we all just need to exercise more. Maybe drawing is the “design equivalent” of stretching, while page layout is on par with strength training, and writing is like cardiovascular work. Although the analogy may seem a little thin, we need to take a holistic approach to our craft and gain a command of all of these aspects in order to practice efficiently. No athlete would say, “I only do sit-ups”; rather, we find that many athletes cross-train in order to build a better overall command of their body.

This is part of our evolution as an industry. If we want to be taken seriously, we had best approach all forms of language with the same reverence we bring to visual literacy.”