Designing Together: The collaboration and conflict management handbook for creative professionals

by Dan Brown

Overview

WHAT IS THE ONE THING not taught in design school, but is an essential survival skill for practicing designers? Working with other people. And yet, in every project, collaboration with other people is often the most difficult part.

The increasing complexity of design projects, the greater reliance on remote team members, and the evolution of design techniques demands professionals who can cooperate effectively. Designing Together is a book for cultivating collaborative behaviors and dealing with the inevitable difficult conversations.

Designing Together features:

• 28 collaboration techniques
• 46 conflict management techniques
• 31 difficult situation diagnoses
• 17 designer personality traits

This book is for designers:

• On teams large or small
• Co-located, remote, or both
• Working in multidisciplinary groups
• Within an organization or consulting from outside

You’ll also find sidebar contributions from David Belman (Threespot), Mandy Brown (Editorially, A Book Apart), Erika Hall (Mule Design Studio), Denise Jacobs (author), Jonathan Knoll (InfinityPlusOne), Marc Rettig (Fit Associates), and Jeanine Turner (Georgetown University).

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780321918635
Publisher:	Pearson Education
Publication date:	06/14/2013
Pages:	288
Product dimensions:	7.00(w) x 8.90(h) x 0.70(d)

About the Author

Dan M. Brown is the author of Communicating Design (New Riders) and principal at EightShapes, LLC, a user experience design firm based in Washington, D.C., whose clients include Yahoo!, Marriott International, and Cisco Systems.

Hometown:

New England

Date of Birth:

June 22, 1964

Place of Birth:

Exeter, New Hampshire

Education:

Phillips Exeter Academy 1982; B.A., Amherst College, 1986; University of Seville, Spain

Website:

http://www.danbrown.com

Table of Contents

• Introduction: Conflict, Collaboration, and Creativity
• 1. Designer as Contributor
• 2. The Designer Mindset
• 3. Listening: The Essential Skill
• 4. The Role of Conflict in Design
• 5. Assessing Conflict: What’s Really Wrong
• 6. The Model of Conflict: Patterns, Situations, and Traits
• 7. How Collaboration Works
• 8. The Four Virtues of Collaboration
• 9. Situations: Circumstances and Scenarios Common to Design Projects
• 10. Traits: Evaluating Yourself and Your Colleagues
• 11. Conflict Patterns: Behaviors for Reaching Resolutions
• 12. Collaboration Behaviors: Embodying the Virtues