Making Products That Don’t Suck
Design reviews used to be the thing I dreaded the most, and no I don’t mean this website. I mean those formal moments in product development where your design is critically evaluated by someone else. You pour all of your efforts into a design only to spend an hour having every weakness of your design pointed out. It’s a lot like cleaning a wound with alcohol. The process is painful, but it needs to happen to prevent infection. In product design the infection would be a failed product. If we avoid these uncomfortable conversations we become blind to the shortcomings of our products.
The importance of design reviews was reaffirmed to me recently from an unexpected place, the movie industry. Pixar has had 14 straight number one releases. How do they do it?
Pixar is fanatical about design reviews and they believe design reviews are vital to their success. They call design reviews a meeting of the Braintrust. Ed Catmull, one of the founders of Pixar said, “One of Pixar’s key mechanisms is the Braintrust, which we rely on to push us toward excellence and to root out mediocrity.” Every few months the production team sits with other leaders from Pixar to review the latest version of a movie. They take detailed notes and pick apart every scene. Candor is essential to the success of the Braintrust.
Why is candor so important?
“Candor could not be more crucial to our creative process. Why? Because early on, all of our movies suck. That’s a blunt assessment, I know, but I choose that phrasing because saying it in a softer way fails to convey how bad the first versions really are. I’m not trying to be modest or self-effacing. Pixar films are not good at first, and our job is to make them go, as I say, ‘from suck to not-suck.’”
Pixar stories can change radically through meetings of the Braintrust. Did you know the original story for Up was set on another planet with two brothers vying for control of a floating city? The director of Up, Pete Docter, took the notes from the Braintrust and continued to evolve the story until it became the story we see today.
Here are three key takeaways from Pixar’s Braintrust:
The Braintrust meets periodically throughout the production of a movie. This is not a one and done meeting. Pixar is striving for excellence and getting a number one movie is a process that requires frequent recalibration.
The Braintrust is made up of experienced people who can give deep insight.
One of the most interesting lessons from the Braintrust is that the production crew is not mandated to implement solutions from the Braintrust. The team will discuss potential solutions and the production team may bring issues to the table they are struggling with. In the end, Pixar believes the main goal of the Braintrust is to bring problems to the surface and that the production crew are the people best suited to find a solution.
How can we become fanatical about design reviews?
Have a proper mindset. This is not a meeting about you or the other people on the design team. Borrowing from Ed Catmull, this is a meeting to make sure the product doesn’t suck.
Come prepared with known problems and ask for help. Design reviews are a time for you to get the minds of experienced people to help you make a better product.
Take notes or record the meeting so you know what you should work on before moving to the next phases of product development.
Ask lots of clarifying questions. Make sure you are clear on the message the reviewers are conveying.
Allow the reviewers to ask many pointed questions. This is not a presentation, where you just want them to listen. You want to them to ask and ask and ask.
Don’t know when you will have a design review? Set one up. Get feedback on your design frequently. We are often too close to our design to see potential problems. As far as I see it, we have two options. Seek feedback frequently and make small course corrections, or roll the dice by waiting until the end to reveal all the work. My experience is that waiting until the end, rarely, if ever, works.
