I was wrong about why designers should learn business

The relevant aspects of business to your values and work

by Ryan Rumsey

So many other people can express the way I feel much better than I can. Mike Monteiro is such a person.

Two years ago, I joined Mike and Erika Hall on Quarantine Book Club, and he asked me, "why should designers learn business?" I gave a very mediocre answer that day. I talked about sense-making, finding confidence in their decisions, and communicating in ways others can understand.

That's all true, but it's not at the core of why I believe designers should learn business. Here's how I'd answer that question now:

• Designers should learn business to know if their work supports racist, misogynistic, homophobic shit in exchange for maximum financial results.
• Designers should learn business to know if they're working for people who prioritize selfish needs over the benefit of the collective good.
• Designers should learn business to know if their work is hurting people, in what ways, how to challenge their organizations to do better, and to know if their organizations are going actually to do that work.
• Designers should learn business to know if their leadership supports the changes they profess to want.
• Designers should learn business to know when to leave and find something new.
• Designers should learn business to reimagine what design is.
• Designers should learn business to seek new ways to get out of situations where their personal financial well-being is tied to working in unethical environments.
• Designers should learn business to know if they are being exploited for their labor.
• Designers should learn business to know if the business models they're working in are exploiting others.
• Designers should know business to understand that they have much more in common with PMs, Engineers, Researchers, Marketers, etc., with each other than Sr. Management.
• Designers should know business to reimagine the opportunities ahead of them whether or not they're "in the field" or not.
• Designers should know business to make things they believe in for the people they believe in.
• Designers should know business to understand they don't need to suffer to produce quality, meaningful products & services.
• Designers should know business to better fight for more ethical, sustainable solutions in terms that businesses can't ignore.
• Designers should learn business to go out and start something independently, different from what they've experienced. Knowing some basic business fundamentals can transform how designers think about making a living off making things while living up to their own personal values.

Many thanks to people like Mike and Erika for sharing their voices & helping me find mine. Thanks to Brendan Jarvis for hosting Mike on the Brave UX podcast. It's a good jolt & reminder to speak about what I feel.

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Use SWD Figjam and Mural templates

We create a lot of templates for SWD and CDO School. But you don't need to be a member of either to use them. Feel free to grab some of our favorite templates, developed specifically for our courses and programs

Templates like:

• The Good Partner Map
• Storytelling for Decision-Making
• The Design Advocates Matrix
• Multi-Horizon Planning
• The Value-Activity Matrix

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A few weeks ago, Erica Courdae and India Jackson from Pause On The Play® for facilitated a special session with the Second Wave Dive team. We wanted to dive deeper into our core brand values and put those values into words.

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