Strong ideas, weakly held.

Or advocating with humility.

I follow a User Centred Design process, research informs design which is again researched which again informs the design and so on.

For any design the initial idea can and should be the result of a need identified by research. In some cases ideas result from psychology theory. I talk more about ideas from theory in my book.

The design idea needs to be advocated.

Outlining the user need and business value, the psychology theory behind it, the research that uncovered it. It needs someone to push for that design idea to be taken forward.

However, that design idea you are pushing may be not be the best option.

Evidence you don’t know about may emerge which proves it’s a bad idea. It might have been tried before by the organisation and they know why it didn’t work. It may not be cost effective. User research or A|B testing may provide counter evidence. Whatever it is, there may well be a compelling reason why the idea shouldn’t be taken forward that you just don’t know about yet.

This isn’t personal. Don’t confuse ego with idea.

Don’t be that person who makes that idea about them, argues for the idea for the victory and not because it’s the best thing to do. It’s a sure fire route way to an unhappy life.

A strong idea should be weakly held, advocate the idea to the best of you ability. But if it’s proved wrong, let it go and move on to the next strong idea.