Business Thinking for Designers

Recognize patterns to anticipate
At the beginning of Michel Thomas’s instructional audiobooks, 
he demonstrated that I already knew more French than I 
realized. Many English words ending in -able, -tion, -ical, and 
-ary have the same meaning—and similar pronunciation—in 
French. In giving these examples, Thomas provided basic 
patterns to build on. 
As a designer, I’m confident in my work when I can anticipate 
what users do, and I have methods and tools to familiarize 
myself with patterns of user behavior. But when business 
leaders first began inviting me to meetings, I couldn’t 
anticipate what they would do. As a result, I was intimidated by 
the people in the room and their conversations. I assumed it 
was all very important, complex stuff, and my confidence was 
shot.

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22 
Why you need to know business
I was fortunate though. I had a wonderful mentor at the time, 
Jeff Bradburn. During one of our daily walks, he reminded 
me that I researched humans every day and that the people 
in those meetings were “just humans.” It was at that moment 
that Jeff demonstrated that I knew more than I realized. I had 
the methods and tools to familiarize myself with patterns of 
behavior. I just needed to apply that knowledge to learning 
business. 
Now I know, most business meetings are quite ordinary. The 
more I witnessed status updates, task delegations, and pats 
on the back, the more I recognized behavioral patterns and 
could anticipate what people in the room would do. Learning 
business is as much about anticipating needs and behaviors as 
it is learning terms and concepts.
Similar patterns of behavior exist inside most organizations 
and industries, and the questions business leaders ask of 
design leaders and their teams are remarkably the same. In 
the sections that follow, I’ll point out basic patterns to help you 
anticipate what happens next and prepare for meetings with 
business leaders. 

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23 
Why you need to know business