Are you stuck in reactive mode?

by Jeff Humble

Dear Reader,

Some designers spend their whole careers reacting to other people's moves.

As a design manager, I remember being in this position. I had to brace myself every Monday morning for some radical change in company direction. We never knew what the new agenda would be, but we knew that it would throw our work into chaos. Sometimes, all it took was for the founder to read a single article to change the company agenda. When a competitor released a new feature, the reaction was even worse. Everything had to stop until we figured out how to deal with the competition.

The whole company forced the design team to react constantly to changing whims of leadership and the competition.

When deadlines, competitors, and continuously changing goals prevent you from doing the necessary design work, you are stuck in Reactive Mode.

The reactive mode is a neverending stream of tasks assigned by somebody else. Even design managers can find themselves in this position.

The worst part about a reactive mode is that you don't control the speed, so you can't even establish a routine of reacting.

This is a very unstrategic position because you will spend all your energy fulfilling other people's orders and never take the time to be proactive or strategic about your design practice.

Signs you might be in Reactive Mode

Unfocused design work with no uniting theme: a shotgun approach wastes time and resources.
Building everything the customers ask for: While it might feel good to grant every customer request, your customer only knows what’s best for them. You have to figure out if it’s good for the business.
Building everything the sales team asks for: Salespeople are highly incentivized to promise customers the world, but this isn’t always good for the company in the long term.
Copying stuff that worked at other companies: This is usually a manager reacting to something that worked at a past company without adapting it to the current company.
Chasing the trends: This is tough, as people often see design as a way to stay trendy. However, trends can distract you from forging a unique path that makes sense for your company.
Chasing maturity levels: Not every team must reach the same maturity level. Companies require different design skills and processes, so don't react to the design industry's cookie-cutter approach. Customize to your company, not industry standards.
Trying to out-design the competitors: While it may seem intuitive, you don't want to try to beat the competition at their own game. This requires way more effort than proactively forging your strategic direction.

There’s nothing wrong with these reactive approaches on their own. You can follow trends, and it might improve design. I’m just saying that being proactive and company-specific would be way better.

“Strategy is about setting yourself apart from the competition. It's not a matter of being better at what you do - it's a matter of being different at what you do.” -Michael Porter

The only way to escape the reactive loop is to start being proactive.

The Proactive Mindset

You don’t have to design a fancy strategy to be proactive.

Katherine Johnson was a NASA mathematician during the Apollo missions. At the time, many women did complex calculations by hand but were not included in critical decision-making processes.

Katherine realized that this could have dire consequences during emergencies. She inserted herself into critical conversations and pioneered computer-aided calculations so that her strategic approaches could prevent disasters.

Katherine reminds me of many designers I know. She was aware of potential future issues but had to be delicate to help prevent them.

Being proactive takes foresight and a strategic mind when you're not a manager, but it is possible! I see students do this every day in my strategy course. It's about designing more unique customer experiences.

Being proactive (and strategic) looks like:

Focusing on the essence: Doing fewer things better can save time and resources.
Making choices about the future: Decide beforehand which direction you will take.
Doing the opposite of the norm: When the competitors zig, you should zag.
Building to be different: Only take action when it aligns with the strategy’s direction.
Doing more with less: Rather than fight a losing game against competitors, do your own thing and carve out a defendable niche.

The most successful people don’t wait for events to unfold. They design outcomes to their advantage, and strategy provides the tools.

It’s uncomfortable to stop reacting. Manufactured urgency, such as arbitrary deadlines, competitive pressures, and stakeholder demands, can keep teams running so hard that they forget why they started running in the first place.

Stepping back to think big-picture is necessary to:

Escape the cycle of reactive work.
Find leverage instead of just effort.
Make intentional decisions.
Break free from survival mode & shape the future.

In my course on designing strategy, you learn big-picture thinking in six inspiring weeks.

You learn how to create a proactive design practice that will prepare you for design leadership positions. And you'll walk away with a strategy that you can use to guide design towards new strategic heights.

Now, that would set you apart from the masses of reactive designers.

Learn More