Why designers struggle with productivity

Designers usually work in fast-paced environments, on multiple projects, and deal with many moving parts and stakeholders.

At some point, every designer has had their productivity affected by one of two main reasons.

Distractions

I’ve personally struggled a lot with distractions. Working in an office comes with a lot of distractions, such as people having conversations, taking meetings at their desks, and coming up to talk to you.

Not to mention the constant pings and buzzes from all types of notifications.

But if you think remote working is all sunshine and rainbows, it comes with its downsides too.

Not everyone has the luxury of a private workspace, which means family members or roommates constantly making noise or doing something in the background of your video call.

Loss of interest

Getting into a routine can become boring for many designers. As creatives, we like working on tasks that engage our minds.

As designers become disengaged at work, their productivity starts to get affected. Perhaps they stop turning on their camera during meetings, stop sharing designs during critiques, or drag on projects that should have been quick to finish.

This can lead to quiet quitting or looking elsewhere for a new opportunity.

So how can designers improve their productivity and become more efficient?

1. Manage your time better

There are 8 hours in a work day. Take 2 to 3 hours out for meetings and 1 hour out for lunch (if you’re lucky). That leaves 4 to 5 hours left for doing actual work.

Block off time in your calendar for heads down work, say no to meetings if you’re not required or if you have higher priorities to work on.

Before I blocked time off in my calendar for deep work, my weekly schedule would look something like this.

Leaving gaps in between meetings was a signal for teammates to invite me to more meetings. They assumed that an open time slot meant I would be available for another (useless) meeting.

I would constantly have to switch contexts with 30 minute gaps in between meetings. The remaining time I had left wasn’t sufficient to get into flow state.

What is flow state?

“The flow state is the experience of being so absorbed by an engaging, enjoyable task that your attention is completely held by it. You generally lose sense of time, self-consciousness, and anything that doesn’t have to do with the task at hand.“

— BetterUp

By scheduling time blocks for deep work, I could focus for a few hours on a task and get more meaningful work done. This helped limit context switching between meetings, as well as extend the time periods between meetings that I had to complete work and get into flow state.

2. Minimize distractions

I’m not sure how I got any work done when I worked in office.

There’s nothing more distracting than someone beside you taking a meeting at their desk while others are talking loudly behind you about their vacation plans.

When my company turned to working remotely, I started to listen to podcasts while I did work.

But this was just as distracting as hearing people talking in the office. If you’re listening to one thing, your brain isn’t focused on your work.

During your time blocks of deep work, turn on “do not disturb” or pause notifications for your Slack messages, so that you can work uninterrupted.

And definitely stay off of social media. Just put away your phone.

3. Prioritize tasks

Priority should dictate the order of which you work on your tasks. Often times, priorities change and designers have to pivot mid-project.

Work with your PM to decide what’s most important. I meet with my PM at the beginning of each sprint to discuss priority levels of tasks.

A good framework to help you prioritize tasks is the Eisenhower Matrix. It was made popular by Stephen Covey’s The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People®.

The Eisenhower Matrix consists of four quadrants, which defines activities by two factors: urgency and importance.

Urgent activities require our attention right away, while important ones lead to impactful consequences.

By following the Eisenhower Matrix, you can prioritize your tasks to focus on necessities and effectiveness, while avoiding distractions and waste.

4. Break down larger initiatives into smaller tasks

I used to feel overwhelmed when tasked with a large initiative. Often, these projects would be highly ambiguous. Where would I even get started?

Atlassian published a great article on using stories, epics, and initiatives to define and structure their work.

Think about a large initiative as a collection of epics, which can also be further broken down into user stories and subtasks.

Each user story should have defined requirements that can be achieved by completing specific tasks. The completion of user stories contributes to the overall completion of an epic, which consists of a high-level objective.

The next time you’re faced with a large initiative, spend some time breaking down your work. You’ll be able to focus better by attacking your project one step at a time.

5. Unblock yourself

In my first year working as a UX designer, I often got stuck on projects and would sit there twiddling my thumbs. I felt that asking for help with a supposedly simple task would make myself seem incapable.

Don’t make the same mistake I did.

Start a conversation to clear up any confusion or misunderstanding. Speak up during standup or weekly syncs to discuss what is blocking you. Sometimes, your problem may be solved on the spot by having a simple conversation.

Other times, you will rely on another team in order to continue designing. Make sure to end each meeting by outlining specific next steps for each party involved. Always follow up afterwards for a progress update to create a sense of urgency.

There’s no shame in asking for help. It’s better to get help and clarify any requirements before it’s too late. Don’t be the one to put your team behind because of your ego.

6. Process design requests as they come in

There can be a lot of noise as design requests appear out of the blue. Perhaps an old project needs to be iterated on based on user research. Or a client requested something that must get into the product as soon as possible.

Whenever I receive a design request after I’ve prioritized my tasks for the sprint, I always ask:

• How urgent is this request?
• How important is this request?
• Can someone else do it?

The first two questions help me determine if I need to reprioritize my sprint to include this request. If so, then I have an idea of where to place it on my to-do list based on the urgency and importance.

And sometimes, the better option is to outsource the work to someone else. Perhaps your teammate has a lighter workload or they have more expertise relating to the project. Delegating work should always be considered as an option.

7. Wake up early

I am by no means an early riser.

However, some days I know that most of my time will be taken up by back-to-back meetings. So getting up a few hours before my first meeting allows me to be productive and get stuff done.

There’s something about working while the sun is rising and no one is pinging me on Slack. It allows me to ease into my day by prioritizing my to-do list and not feeling rushed once the work day starts.

I can take my time to wake up and get in a few quality hours of work before taking my first meeting. This also gives me a sense of accomplishment early on and sets a positive tone for the day.

If you work remotely, I highly suggest waking up early, getting some work done and ending your day early too. You’ll be left with the rest of the day to enjoy your life and that’s what it’s really about.