All too often Designers complain about development teams working on their own and leaving usability as the last item on their list, if considered at all. They are also too quick to complain about “the business” not including them in product decisions.

And yet, designers have no problem keeping everyone at arm’s length until the design process is finished because “design is different. The creative process is not like writing code or crafting marketing stuff”.

But if you think about it, how is that different from developers saying -which they do- that they don’t involve designers until the coding is finished because [insert rationale here].

“Design is different”

Mike Monteiro in his signature style says that “calling someone a creative doesn’t elevate. It marginalizes. The label excludes designers from conversations about strategy, product definition, business goals, and metrics. It sets them apart from other employees as people who aren’t bound by the same expectations and requirements.”

But this type of thinking doesn’t just apply to designers. Marketing, sales and developers also have a variation on this story.

Breaking the silo mentality

As long as we keep thinking that *our* type of work is different -be it designers, developers, marketing or sales, we will stay in our silos. Because the “we’re different” mentality only helps to perpetuate them. And we don’t need to add another brick to that wall.

So when we keep thinking that “design is different” and don’t allow others to participate in the creative process, we will perpetuate the exclusion mentality that we often complain about.

Just as designers need to participate in the development and product definition processes, marketing and develpment need to participate in the design process.

If we want to break down silo walls and be included in other decision-making processes, we need to start inviting others to participate in our decision-making process as well.

Good things happen

If you show your design early and often, you will allow others to chime in their perspective, including business constraints that you may not have considered or didn’t know about, and you may learn about feasibility issues for your idea

As you abandon this mentality -and thus your silo, and start incorporating others into your design process good things will happen:

• your designs are less likely to be rejected or modified after you’ve handed them off, because they’re more aligned with business and development needs. This means that your design vision stays the way you intended it, and a happier you
• as you incorporate other team’s perspective, they’ll see a little bit of them in your designs, which is another way to say that they’ll start feeling ownership. And when they feel ownership they less likely to change it, less likely to criticize it, and more likely to defend it. In other words, you’ll win allies
• as you open up the process the other teams will see their concerns taken into account and will likely start taking yours as well. The result will be less rework for everyone, less friction between areas, and more satisfaction all around