Page 139 - Design meets Business:An Ethnographic Study of the Changing Work and Occupations of Creatives

3. (Re)Negotiating Service Design 127
me this is a good way to start every day”, referring to making the ‘agenda’. Nadia nodded and returned to the rest of the design team.
These observations show that designers adopt a flexible approach to time. A designer explained this as:
“[the planning of design processes is] fluid, messy and flexible. It is in the moment and not linear... The measurement of design is not by the minute. We cannot offer a standard flow, stable rhythm, and send a report every day at an exact time”.
Different from the designers, however, clients and Accenture consultants reckoned that time could be managed, controlled and planned. Clients prefer to organize work activities following a “minute-to-minute agenda”, as one of the designers called it, while the designers themselves prefer to plan their work activities more in the moment, a designer explained this in an interview:
“I think it is because the design process is not linear and sometimes for business people it is difficult to understand. This also has to do with the cli- ent’s expectation of making a timeline in the morning to see how we are go- ing to work. That is a business expectation. Design processes are not linear. Design processes are messy, and there are things that are not going to make sense to him, even if we explain them, they are not going to make sense to him. I also think that, you process things differently as a designer, as a cre- ative, our conversations can go from I don’t know ‘hip hop’ to ‘coffee’, and everything is contributing to our creativity. The laughs, the analysis of the series we watch, our perception of the company, everything”.
While all designers took a more flexible approach to organize time, the designers repeatedly experienced unclarity around the question ‘how a designer ought to spend time’. Such discussions especially emerged when designers approached deadlines, such as when developing the Customer Journey:
Jane: we can only show one, two or three drawings of the Customer Jour- ney, or we show it all [to the clients].
Carrie: Yeah but this is important. We should not show it all. Then we don’t surprise them in the journey because they already know it. Anyhow, I am not sure if I can finish all of them [drawings] this week. I need more time. Nadia: You are the only one that can finish them, so how can we do it? How can we make you finish them, maybe you can sketch them in less detail? Carrie: yes, I can try that, or I can recycle what I have already. But actually,