Keeping a beginner’s mind
By: Caio Braga
Tags: Product Design, Careers, Surveymonkey, UX, Design

Keeping a beginner’s mind

“In the beginner’s mind there are many possibilities, but in the expert’s there are few” ― Shunryu Suzuki

illustration by Malia Eugenio

The eleventh time we design a sign-up page, the interface solution comes out almost automatically. We already have an image in our head of what the needs, the hierarchy, flows, and scenarios are. This somewhat automated process makes us more efficient in our craft. The more design solutions we can automate like that, the easier it becomes for us to move on to tackling new problems and new projects. However, while practice makes perfect, repeating the exact same steps won’t always lead to the best outcomes. We can’t let this lazy confidence — often wrapped and sold as efficiency — get in our way to becoming better designers.

That’s where curiosity comes into play. We need to stay curious about our craft, our industry, our users, and the problems we have to solve. As an article on HBR on curiosity put it: “we are less likely to fall prey to confirmation bias (looking for information that supports our beliefs rather than for evidence suggesting we are wrong) and to stereotyping people (making broad judgments, such as that women or minorities don’t make good leaders). Curiosity has these positive effects because it leads us to generate alternatives.”

Generating alternatives is a key step in our design process and one that we can only do effectively if we can put ourselves in a position of learning. And we can always learn from people around us. But we don’t. As we grow in our careers, we often avoid asking questions or putting ourselves in a position that makes us feel vulnerable. Seniority is not about knowing everything, but knowing where to learn. In many ways, curiosity is about keeping a beginner’s mind and using it as a tool of our craft.

Curiosity is a design tool to open new possibilities and avoid canned solutions.

While we are all born with creativity and we all have this tool, there are a few things we need to do to keep it sharp:

Automate the tedious tasks, not the thinking

Sure, we do need to optimize our work. But it’s a matter of automating the tedious stuff so you can free up more of your time for important problem-solving. Don’t automate the solution for a problem, automate the emails in your inbox (and even then, as a good designer, take some time every now and then to see how you can improve your flows). Instead of automating to be able to do more work, automate so you can spend time on work that matters.

In our day-to-day, there is a constant back-and-forth between the many tools we use: from sketching solutions to prioritizing problems with product managers. We shouldn’t then pick one to focus and automate the other. Both are part of our craft and thinking. Both matter and both need time. They can’t be automated the same way we automate how we export assets or create templates for meetings. Unlock your curiosity from the tyranny of efficiency.

Ask questions

Designers and their whys… It goes without saying that it’s important to ask the right questions. Questions open spaces for design to grow, and design will grow and expand to the space it’s given. If you don’t know exactly what to ask or where to start, take advantage of some frameworks and guides that exist out there, such as these IA Lenses we’ve been recently experimenting with here at SurveyMonkey. Find more ways to listen to your user, and you will see how this will spark new questions about them.

IA lenses in action, by Jasmine Rosen

Asking questions also doesn’t mean only asking the big questions. Sure, those are important too, but everyone you work with is already asking them. The insight often happens when we ask simple questions to people that we often don’t collaborate with much. If we’re trying to find new answers, what we ask is as important as who we ask.

Set learning goals and expand your skills

Setting a goal might sound counterintuitive after everything else I’ve said so far. We are already so fatigued from the goals and metrics we pay attention to in our day-to-day, adding another one seems nonsensical. Since our brains are at this point so deeply wired to think about goals, you can see this just as a hack to open space in your day to see beyond them. Goals are, after all, a way to make space in our lives for something we want.

Set some time aside and create a goal to learn something new beyond our designiverse.

With the world going through so many challenges on almost every front, from climate change to the rise of authoritarianism in politics, it’s even more important for us to learn and understand (as citizens and designers) what is happening around us and how we can use our skills to help. Being exposed to different realities other than our work environment can make us better designers, but most importantly, better people. The first step is wanting to learn and keep our mind open to it.

Be vulnerable

If we avoid showing our vulnerability to avoid fear or shame, we miss out on the opportunity to create more authentic connections with our team (and in our lives) and to be more courageous and impactful with our work. When you make yourself vulnerable, people tend to relate and connect to you more. It unleashes a cascade effect of true connections, candor, and collaboration. As Elliot Hedmans puts it, if we reject vulnerability, we kill curiosity: we cannot reflect, and we cannot pivot to a better solution.

Brené Brown dedicated her career to studying vulnerability and has amazing talks on this topic:

There are many fans of Brené Brown and her work on vulnerability on our team here at SurveyMonkey

Being vulnerable is even more important if you’re in a leadership position. As a leader, you can share your frustrations, your mistakes, and seek advice from your team. Your team looks up to you, and by showing vulnerability, you’ll make them feel more comfortable doing the same. They’ll be empowered to offer ideas outside of their comfort zone. Paraphrasing Shunryu Suzuki again: the best way to lead people is to encourage them to be mischievous.

The next time you have to design a sign-up form or any other piece of work that feels automatic, try keeping a beginner’s mind to be able to see all the possibilities. Use your curiosity as a tool to learn more about your users and see beyond the problem that was given to you. There are many exciting opportunities awaiting you beyond your expert mind.