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Sick Design: Changeum Resistus

(Latin: “Unwillingness to Change”)

When you arrive on a new design team, and discover that they are using Dropbox as their code repository… freakin Dropbox. When you ask why, it’s because “We’ve always done it this way, and it isn’t thaaat bad.” The team suffers from unwillingness to change.

COMMON SYMPTOMS: 

  • Software that can’t be updated because it will “break” something
  • OS updates cause massive panic in your office
  • Hesitation to discuss your process
  • You constantly feel like you’re stuck in a time loop relieving the same day over and over again

CAUSES:

  • Nobody asks “Why?
  • A willful ignorance of industry trends and developments
  • No experimentation 

TREATMENTS:

Whether to adopt new tools and technologies can be a difficult decision for teams to make. But it needs to be considered at regular intervals because of how fast innovation happens. 

While it’s important to use stable, reliable tools, it’s equally as important to move with the times and not get left behind. If you’re not careful, you could grow apathetic and stuck in your own, outdated ways. Unwillingness to change hurts morale,  stymies your output, and creates doubt in potential clients. 

Asking ‘Why’ Can Lead to Change

As designers, we should always be asking “why?” and yes, this applies to our tools and processes. If something could be better, make it better. When we stop looking for ways to improve and grow, we put ourselves at risk. Every few months, conduct an audit of your tools and process to ensure they are helping you deliver amazing results. 

If you find they aren’t, take the time to see what else is available and evaluate your options. It’s not a matter of having the latest or fanciest tool, it’s a matter of having the tool that will help you in your work. And with that, you’ll be able to cure your team’s unwillingness to change!

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