It’s common for busy archery ranges to place several targets on a field at once. Serious archers begin every round by committing to aim for just one of them. Arrows that accidentally hit other targets don’t count towards their scores.
A “Texas sharpshooter” refers to someone who does the opposite — firing towards a wall without a declared objective and painting targets around convenient groupings of holes after the shots have landed.
That’s obviously a ridiculous way to practice archery, but it has a lot in common with the way many designers develop their work. I suspect the reason for this is that the world of design (unlike the world of sport) doesn’t have a culture that demands starting with rigorous definitions of success.
If you begin with lightly detailed objectives, it’s easy to claim victory regardless of what you actually produce.
Approaching your design projects like a Texas sharpshooter is tempting because it provides you with a great shield for your ego and professional reputation. Unfortunately, it’s a poor formula for creating work that matters, and that’s what we’re here to do.
Design is about changing the world with intention. Starting with a clear purpose frees your work from post-rationalization and allows it to fulfil an honest mission.
Refusing the Texas sharpshooter approach is also essential for accurately gauging your performance, which enables you to develop your technique.
Pin your target, fire, assess, improve.
If we work together to make this a standard formula in the design community, I’m confident we’ll all hit a lot more bullseyes.
Designable.blog 