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by Andrew Lam-Po-Tang
I was talking to a designer the other day who said that she'd preferred
working alone. It came up in the conversation because we were talking
about the difference between working in groups and alone. When I left
graphic design and went to business school, I had to learn to work in
groups. At the consulting firm I joined after b-school, we only work in
teams, never alone.
I think there are a lot of designers who say they prefer to work alone.
It's about 'maintaining control of the project and the quality,' right?
It's about being efficient, not wasting time communicating and not having
to correct other peoples misinterpretations. Yeah, all those things.
You see, I think the 'alone' bit is a fallacy. This is why - a designer,
even a freelancer, works with a bunch of other people ALL the time. First
there is the client, then usually a printer and a film house, maybe an
illustrator or photographer. Not to mention all the other people who are
'behind' the client manager - their colleagues and bosses. All of these
people are part of the design project, and all of them have a stake in a
SINGLE design outcome (as well as a bunch of other needs and desires).
I figure whether you like it or not, as a designer you are ALWAYS working
in a group. All of that stuff that you think you can avoid is there,
maybe just not with direct co-workers. I don't think that wishing you
were working alone is a bad thing, but it's just that if you really
believe that that is your genuine working environment, you may not
recognise the many demands of being an effective group member. And if you
don't recognise those, I reckon it could be hard to be effective dealing
with those demands.
As a group member you have to: communicate; update; be considerate of
other group members' constraints; be organised and focused; communicate
some more; expect a degree of misinterpretation; be able to correct that;
have discussions; be open to other peoples' ideas; etc, etc. Yes, it
really is a lot of work, but don't forget about all those people who you
have to work with - effective communication takes time and usually pays
off big time.
At first, I found the b-school teams a pretty uncomfortable experience
but within a few months it became very exciting, fulfilling and clearly a
better way to work (I don't mean to sound like sales brochure, it just
comes out that way). My experience as a consultant has confirmed that
initial experience. It's just an extension of the old saying, 'two heads
are better than one.'
So how many groups are you a member of?
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The views expressed this article are not necessarily those of AGDA. Please note that the information in this article is the opinion of the author only. I can therefore accept no responsibility for actions taken on the basis of this information. Copyright Andrew Lam-Po-Tang (andrew@lam-po-tang com), 1998-2008. Permission is granted to freely copy this document in electronic form, or to print, for personal use. Reprinting for non-personal use will require the express permission of the author (which I will generally be very happy to give).
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