My hero, the baseball guru Bill James, was able to look at the same questions that many people had thought about for many years and lay bare their elements. Yes, he created all kinds of new statistics, but what really made him special is how he could bring clarity. He knew how to simplify the problem, and then skillfully describe a logical path to an answer. When he was confronted with the question of, “Who belongs in the Hall of Fame” he realized that some players were outstanding, but only for a few years. Other players had very long careers, but rarely were considered candidates for the “MVP” award in any given year. I’ll apply his conclusions to the question of “What makes a good designer?” and offer up a few more baseball analogies along the way.
Some attributes that I’ve heard used in job descriptions to describe a good designer:
Intelligent
Proven leadership qualities
Motivated / strong work ethic
Detail oriented
Team player
Flexible
Creative problem solver
Computer skills
Experience
Knowledge of construction and or / engineering practices
I get a chuckle out of some of these. Who isn’t going to describe themselves as “motivated?” And I translate “flexible” as “willing to work nights and weekends, if we ask you to.”
Rookies
I was a truss designer for about 10 years. Prior to that I had worked in the shop – mostly on the radial arm saw. Later, I spent 2½ years training designers how to use MiTek software. After all of that, I would say that there is no way to predict ahead of time whether or not a person will be a good component designer. I would even go so far as to say I don’t know if there is any way to predict whether or not a person will even like being a component designer. Still, everyone has to start somewhere, sometime, so here is my description of the ideal rookie component designer.
Thinks that a job designing components would be a really cool job
When I went from being a radial arm saw operator to a designer , I thought, “This is great!” Compared with a lot of job’s I’d had – this was a step up. Working with design software, doing important work (holding up people’s roofs!), doing something that not every Joe Schmoe could do… that was all good stuff to me. Looking it at it the other way, you don’t want someone who is simply doing this because nothing better is available - at present.
Learns the software so fast it makes your head spin
I taught people who learned quickly, and those who struggled. The basic truth is that component design software is not that difficult to learn, if you have an aptitude for it. There are going to be exceptions here – people who through dedication and effort overcome their initial struggles and become great designers. There will also be people that find learning all software is easy, and after quickly “mastering” design software they become bored and quickly look for new worlds to conquer. That been said, I would not be very patient with a rookie who struggled to learn design software.
Prior experience in the shop or in the field
Understanding the challenges of field framing is invaluable. Understanding the challenges of your own shop is equally invaluable. Having either experience gives the person built-in empathy for the customer – either the internal or the external one.
Bill James showed how star players rarely had their best seasons as rookies. It usually took ballplayers two or three years to hit their stride. Still, even in these first seasons they established that they belonged in the big leagues and rapidly improved as the years went by.
Veterans
When I worked as part of a large (15+) design department many years ago we had good designers, and not so good ones. What was the difference?
Experience
This has to be the #1 attribute of a good designer. The experienced designer should be more productive, make fewer errors, and be more valuable to others. Experience can be a tricky, though. I had years of experience before I did my first layout and learned to interpret plans. Some folks find a comfortable niche and just hang out. Those folks are long on experience, but short on performance.
Professional pride
The guys who take the job to heart, who see themselves as design professionals don’t need any further motivation to show up and do good work. They expect it of themselves.
Focus
A favorite designer I worked with leaned how to use all the hot keys within the software. Watching her work, you could see the payoff. I had never seen anyone work so quickly. She was not interested so much in optimizing each component to perfection, she was focused on getting work to the shop. In baseball, some guys hit for average, some for power, A few can do both. My friend Debbie hit for average – she stayed on task, refused to get side tracked, and got work to the shop faster than anyone else I’d seen. Guys who get too distracted experimenting with the software or adding too many details to their presentation drawing may think they are doing great work, but they could be more valuable if they stayed on task and focused on getting the work out.
Career Value
Getting back to the Hall of Fame question, Bill James realized that each ballplayer had a “Peak Value” and a “Career Value.” Peak Value was how good they were at their peak. Sandy Koufax and Sammy Sosa had very high Peak Values. Career Value is cumulative, it can’t be measured until the player’s career is over. Don Sutton and Paul Molitor are players whose Peak Value was not very high, but got into the Hall of Fame on being quality players for a very long time. The best designers are building up a high Career Value by showing up, being dedicated, helping others, and making the office a better place to work in.