I believe that talking about process is one way of blocking process. One cannot impose a process on others. The great danger lies in disrupting the emerging process by using too much force or set too many rules, as opposed to let it evolve naturally.

But to give you an idea of how I approach a new team or new project here a few points that are important to my work.

Ask stupid questions

Growth is fueled by desire and innocence. Assess the answer, not the question. Imagine learning throughout your life at the rate of an infant
Bruce Mau

One of the things I keep telling myself is to always keep an open mind and stay just a bit longer with the ambiguity of not knowing. This place of uncertainty, of being uncomfortable is where truly good things happen. We might learn something new about ourselves. We might discover a new approach to an old problem.
The questions you ask can shape or even determine the outcome. Questions need to be posed with a great deal of care and thought.
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Human-Centered Design

Human-centered design optimizes the user experience around how users can, want, or need to interact, rather than forcing them to change their behavior to accomodate the design. The focus needs to be more on how it makes them feel as opposed to how nice it looks or how clever the underlying technology.

The waiting room of a Vancouver radiology clinic. A place that is life-changing for some, and uncomfortable for all. Nothing has been done here to make patients feel taken care off. Plastic chairs, a few cheaply printed warning signs pasted to the walls, cold fluorescent light and a water cooler.
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Make things tangible

Making a prototype is the best way to get an idea from your head into the world. Thinking with your hands, as IDEO's Tim Brown calls it. It's a liberating and intrisically human act to build something physical, as opposed to creating with our sleek and ultimately life-less technological means.

Student's in the BCIT New Media department making a paper prototype of their digital online portfolios.
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Technology serves people, not the other way around

People come first. Technology is supposed to make our lives safer, easier and more focussed on the important things. But somehow interfaces as well as objects, are much too complex, offering so many features that the most important ones are hidden or inaccessible in too complex menues. Clear mapping between the controls and their results is key.

For the video game WOMP!we simplified the XBox controller to make it easier for new players to pick up and play.
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Simplicity

I prefer uncluttered and clean design and minimal features. It reduces the viewers attention load. I try to avoid cutting-edge technology, they get in the way of most user's goals. My approach is to offer a rich, yet responsive experience that is simple and intuitive to use.
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The fewer rules the better

Rules are guidelines, not laws written in stone. I keep telling my students to break the rules if they have a better idea for assigned projects, and invariably they have. And it's beautiful to watch.
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Play!

Fact is that our brains are more flexible when we are relaxed. Having fun and being playful is a great way to get our creative juices flowing. Children know all about this as they are more engaged with open possibilities.

People playfully interacting with sculptures at Vancouver's English Bay.
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