Thread by @triciawang

Do you work in or around design? Read my @fastcompany article on the toxic overuse and abuse of HMW, a popular #designthinking technique that I think needs to be retired
fastcompany.com/90649969/the-m…

Below are some links to the people and articles I mentioned in the article.

I’m grateful that @fastcompany continues to be a space for critical reflections such as my long form piece. Suzanne Lebarre is a great editor!

It was a multi-year process for me to turn my years of fieldnotes on HMW into this article. The HMW is used so ubiquitously as part of workshops globally that many unnamed senior leaders in our space warned me of career suicide if I ever spoke publicly about it

I didn't listen to them. I channeled my anger by writing down everytime I saw the HMW used. I have years of notes on every conversation and workshop, and photos of slides with the HMW.

Then I tried to make the HMW better with some of the techniques I shared in the article: WSW (Why Should We) or WAW (Why are We) - this allowed me to gently and safely introduce new ways to undo the harms of HMW short of suggesting we stop HMW entire.

Then my team & I @suddencompass created a new technique that was able to get at the desired outcome of HMW while prioritizing the human insights. We open-sourced that technique with @GoogleDesign: Translating Business Questions to Human Questions designsprintkit.withgoogle.com/methodology/ph…

The lesson is that if you ever notice any technique or approach that isn’t working out at work — DO NOT IGNORE IT. Document the outcomes, write down the negative impact. Every time you have a WTF moment, record it. And then eventually, work on making it better

Many of the people I mentioned in the article have done exactly the same thing - they saw a problem, and then tried to make it better.

They are also making new methods, techniques, and communities. Collaborate w/ them!

1. Work with Jahan Mantin & Boyuan Gao of @ProjectInkblot to adopt their Design for Diversity™ framework

2. Take @CRXLAB’s workshop on how traditional DT protects white supremacy eventbrite.com/e/how-traditio…

3. Buy @mamazaure’s stack of Critical Design Alphabet etsy.com/listing/725094…

4. Check out architect @bcleejrof who started @colloqate - they do incredible work and have built an amazing community - Design as Protest - join it! colloqate.org/design-justice…

5. @panthealee’s founded @thereboot, read her twitter thread on the issues with “co-creation workshops”

https://twitter.com/panthealee/status/1290685410742620162?lang=en

Also read her incredibly honest essay reflecting on her time in design panthealee.medium.com/towards-a-poli…

6. @spydergrrl came up with the term UX theater spydergrrl.com/2020/05/ux-the…

7. @cydharrell has a new book is a practical guide for those working in civic tech cydharrell.com/book/

8. @katymogal - she gave a great talk at about how to scale insights at the @rosenfeldmedia conf on research rosenfeldmedia.com/advancing-rese…

9. @writingprincess (new VP of Machine Learning Experience Design at @CapitalOne) is ushering the next era of design to work with AI
medium.com/swlh/stop-bast…

10. If you are an emerging underrepresented design professional - apply to @kristyt’s madeinthefuturefellowship.com

11. @serota has shared a lot of her work in financial inclusion on her site laurenserota.com

12. @jjg’s article that talks about how UX is no longer about insights fastcompany.com/90642462/i-hel…

13. @ccriadoperez’s book Invisible Women documents the gender data gap carolinecriadoperez.com/book/invisible…

14. I really enjoy the @rosenfieldmedia community of conferences, trainings, books that features & welcome to critical thinking around the field of design rosenfeldmedia.com/communities/

Thanks to all the great responses in this thread when I asked for people’s experiences with the HMW

https://mobile.twitter.com/triciawang/status/1391974548161974275

Esp @CaseyG @NathanFGao
@ChiSenires @dmitryn @otlhogilegordon

Also, I spoke to @marcfonteijn a few months before I published this piece on why designers often fail in orgs and the problems with HMW

Thanks to Eden Liu for the intro to @projectinkblot, @baratunde for the intro, @peterme for supporting

Here’s my reading list for the article:

bloomberg.com/news/features/…

@maggiegram's @nplusonemag
nplusonemag.com/issue-35/revie…

@gleemie
catalystjournal.org/index.php/cata…

@brucenussbaum
fastcompany.com/1663558/design…

@njenworks
99u.adobe.com/videos/55967/n…

@hairyelefante
uxdesign.cc/design-has-an-…

@natashaiskander
hbr.org/2018/09/design…

@Dori_Danthro
jacobsdesigncal.medium.com/respecting-our…

@STS_News
sts-news.medium.com/the-design-thi…
and also read his new book The Innovation Delusion!
penguinrandomhouse.com/books/576816/t…

One of my personal goals in writing this article is to get the entire design field leveled up for designing the future of crytpo & blockchain. Let's leapfrog many of the issues we've had with designing Web 2.0. We need design to represent the user voice in this entirely new tech.

DM me if you’re already working in crytpo - I want to connect with you.
And if you’re interested in moving into this space, also ping me !

forgot to add link @digitalsista's work in stopping online violence against Black women stoponlinevaw.com

and this article on digital harm by @sheila_warren @kirstinestewart @kayfbutterfield @e_cheikos @wef
weforum.org/agenda/2021/06…

also one final note - it took me a while to write this article because so many people were afraid to go on record to tell me what they had witnessed with the HMW. I am grateful to all the people who spoke to me on and off record.

You'd think I was writing an article to uncover genocide or some massive embezzlement scheme - no just 3 words.

This fear speaks to something so deeply wrong with our industry--that we put #designthinking & companies that push up on a pedestal

this is why I think @georgeaye's @elizjohansen's investigation into IDEO is so brave. We need to speak up , especially in an industry that purports to be human-centered.

fastcompany.com/90640907/damni…

medium.com/surviving-ideo…

and that we can make more org aware of abusive people like Fred Dust who has used #DesignThinking as a cover for his toxic behavior - more here-->

https://twitter.com/triciawang/status/1410370781645742082

And a few more books to add to the reading list:

We Are Not Users: Dialogues, Diversity, and Design
@srukrish et. al.
mitpress.mit.edu/books/we-are-n…

@schock's Design Justice: Community-Led Practices to Build the Worlds We Need
mitpress.mit.edu/books/design-j…

Extra Bold: A Feminist, Inclusive, Anti-racist, Nonbinary Field Guide for Graphic Designers
@ellenLupton @kaleena_sales et. al
papress.com/pages/extra-bo…

I also just found the amazing @fovlabs from @srukrish who runs a design lab that makes games and simulations for the design of public policy. They actively work to dismantle the mystique and supremacy of #designthinking
@https://twitter.com/fovlabs/status/1407665225403404290?s=20

and also here is Catherine Liu's book Virtue Hoarders that I mentioned in the article upress.umn.edu/book-division/…