Designed for Use, 2nd Edition

Don’t Accept False Dichotomies

When somebody proposes a specific solution in a design meeting, people automatically fall into a mode where they’re arguing for or against this solution, instead of trying to build on the proposed solution and evolve it, or trying to come up with an entirely new approach. It’s important to identify these situations, stop the pro et contra talk, and guide the discussion back to a more productive approach, where people are trying to solve design problems instead of arguing about which of two suggestions is “correct.”