In Design school, we learned how to criticize without being jerks. We also learned to trust other people, and take criticism without being offended.
After 4 years in an environment like that, I'm amazed at the design process in the startup world. People cling to their pet projects -- and they either don't criticize for fear of hurting someone's feelings, or they take criticism very personally.
I take this skill set for granted, but there aren't that many places to learn how to give and take criticism, and many companies have not figured out how to embed it in their culture.
> In Design school, we learned how to criticize without being jerks. We also learned to trust other people, and take criticism without being offended.
I want to design school also. One thing I noticed right away:
We were _taught_ those things, but a lot of people didn't _learn_ them. Even near the end of the program, many of my classmates couldn't handle well (or usually just ignored) the feedback they got in group critiques.
Mostly, it was a problem that solved itself. The people who learned to give and take criticism improved a lot more than those that didn't.
After 4 years in an environment like that, I'm amazed at the design process in the startup world. People cling to their pet projects -- and they either don't criticize for fear of hurting someone's feelings, or they take criticism very personally.
I take this skill set for granted, but there aren't that many places to learn how to give and take criticism, and many companies have not figured out how to embed it in their culture.