#design-lounge

Good ideas (and good feedback) can come from anywhere in your organization, and building strong cross-functional relationships is often the secret sauce to delivering the best user experiences. But how can folks see what Design is working on, and when is an appropriate time to give feedback? How can we bring folks outside EPD (Engineering, Product, Design) into the design process?

Enter: an experimental, low-key Slack channel: #design-lounge.

The lounge was a hit at Buffer — it gave designers a low-stakes opportunity to share early ideas, and folks outside of product (think Support, Marketing, People, etc.) a chance to weigh in on the product experience. It was great for socializing early concepts, gathering diverse perspectives, evangelizing design thinking, and getting buy-in across the organization.

Folks shared that it was fun and lightweight, and became a favorite work space to keep up with. Lowering the stakes and barrier to entry (see Rule of Engagement #3: This is a safe space for loose ideas) helped facilitate more cross-pollination between teammates that didn't regularly spend time together, and helped designers work through many ideas quickly when kicking off projects.