Debate chooses one predetermined solution over another. Design is a creative process that produces ideas that have never existed before. Debate chooses winners and losers, while design focuses on finding mutually beneficial solutions. Here are three reasons why I’d rather design than debate.
1. We get to share our notes
In debate, research happens before the process. You wield your research as a weapon to destroy your opponent. You keep what you know secret, only to unveil it at the opportune time to surprise and disorient your opponent. Without enough time to integrate the new information, everyone ends up further apart and more dug in to their own information.
In design, research is a part of the process. You share what you know and experience that might be beneficial for everyone else to know. More information comes to light as you connect your understanding of the situation. Information is a tool for collaboration.
2. Design moves beyond winners and losers
In debate, there is a clear distinction between winning and losing. You win because someone else lost. The goal is your success, rather than great outcomes. Winning and losing is all or nothing. The looser does not get their needs met or to contribute to the solution.
Design is a collaborative game, where the goal is shared success. You win when everyone gets their needs met and is satisfied with the outcome. Design is a process that focuses on creating outcomes that benefit everyone.
3. Together we create new possibilities
Debate chooses one pre-determined solution over another. It is not a creative process. It is a process that makes judgment look objective and fair. The people who evaluate the solution are not usually the people involved in creating or implementing or using the solution.
Design is a creative process that produces ideas that haven’t existed before. Going beyond a win-win to a win-surprise. By sharing what we know in the research stage, to prioritizing outcomes rather than winners, we can create something of meaning and value.
Put the Deign Not Debate Process to use in your own life with this tool.
