Avoid the trap of what's obvious. Nothing is.

One of the biggest mistakes I have made in my career (and sometimes still do) is to think that what’s in my mind is obvious, therefore, would be obvious to everyone.

Over the years, I have discovered that it couldn't be farther from the truth, and I realised that’s a mind trick to do with my lack of self-confidence. Often, I worry about speaking up. I wonder if what I have to say is worth sharing or if I understood what people are discussing correctly. Should I ask that question? Should I share that idea? I worry about looking stupid.

However, if you are working in user experience design, you soon realise that if you want to do your job correctly, you need to get over yourself and the fear of looking stupid. You might find the best insight when you ask a question that seems evident initially, but the answer might surprise you and everyone around you.

The worse it can happen is that you get the expected answer, which helps you validate your theory.

Especially when working on complex tech products, ask the obvious questions to your tech counterpart and make them explain things to you as if you were a 5-year-old kid. The backend engineer isn’t always connected to the technical architect or the front-end engineer. Questioning the obvious doesn’t only help you as a designer; it will benefit everyone in the team.

At the same time, you need to ensure you speak up about your work, how you do it, and what you need to perform it to the full extent. You might think everyone around you is switched on about ethnography, usability, affinity mapping, personas and whatever new methodology or artefact is popular on the web. People around you are too busy in their bubbles and, therefore, completely unaware of the topics that interest you, which you find obvious. Evangelise for good HCD processes and techniques, speaking about what’s obvious to you.

I have been in meetings where people struggle to find answers to a problem with a customer-facing application. My instinct in the first second of hearing the problem is to talk to customers themselves and understand directly from them. However, I do not want to look stupid saying something obvious which might have already been done. It turns out nobody even thought about it!

What’s obvious to you might not be for others. Don’t be afraid to speak up and say what you think. Your opinion matters.