Design starts earlier than you think.

Design doesn’t start with a spec. It doesn’t even start with a problem or a prompt or a need.

Design starts at the very beginning. All of the relationship-building, stakeholder-wrangling, process-defining, responsibilities-mapping, and goal-setting work is not just stuff you have to get out of the way in order to start. These are all crucial initial stages of the design process, with tangible impacts on how work is done, and on the end result of our efforts.

If you consider yourself a designer, of any stripe, try adding these to your mental model of the materials you have to work with: relationships, stakeholders, processes, responsibilities, and goals.

There is no one correct way these materials should be configured. There are only more and less conducive ways to configure them for more likely successful outcomes.

These materials are never 100% fixed or 100% malleable. You’ll have to assess where they default to now, where they might be improved, and how much you think they can realistically improve at any given time. Then you’ll have to plan for how you can go about nudging them in the right direction.

Getting better at this part of design will last your entire career. Be patient with yourself, and look for opportunities to practice whenever you can. Begin by welcoming them with open arms into your palette of design materials. Whether you engage with the configuration of these materials or not, you’ll have to work with them either way.