Scott Porad

Yesterday, I wrote about how the conflict between penny wise and pound foolish is often the result of not having clear goals or strategy.  Today, it occurred to me that was just a variation of something my co-workers at Cheezburger hear me say all the time:

Conflicts in business strategy are fought out on the battlefield of design.

What do I mean by this?  If you’ve ever built a web site, you probably know exactly what I’m talking about.  But, if not, allow me to paint a picture for you…

You’re working on a project…let’s just call it a web site, but it could be lots of types of projects, such as building a house or designing the set for a play.  The salient point is that all of these projects have one thing in common: you’re building something.

You meet with the designer and you tell him or her what you want.  Maybe you give them a creative brief, or some bullet points, or even just a few words of direction.  Everybody thinks everybody is on the same page, singing from the same hymnal…the project is going well.

In time, the designer does their work and returns with mockups.  Excitement abounds.  A meeting is convened.  The designer rolls out their designs…and then the circus comes to town!

All the sudden everybody is arguing and telling the designer how to change things around.  All of the sudden everyone is a designer and has an opinion about the design.  And, the poor designer…just sitting there…servant to a hundred masters…has an impossible job to do.

And, you know what’s happening: a conflict in business strategy is being fought out on the battlefield of design.  And, just like the story of pennies and pounds, when you find yourself in this situation, it’s time to step back and look at your goals and strategies.