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Arqum Usmani

August 19, 2025

The design review question that actually finds problems

#process#design-review

"What do you think?" gets you opinions. Opinions in a design review are mostly just taste with extra steps, and taste doesn't scale past the person giving it.

The question I use instead

"What would have to be true for this to be wrong?" It forces the reviewer to name an assumption instead of a preference. Half the time, naming the assumption is enough for them to answer their own objection. The other half, you've found a real gap in the evidence, which is a much more useful thing to walk out of a review with than a list of button-color opinions.

This note is short on purpose. Longer version, with examples from actual reviews, coming later.