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Unlearning Is an Underrated Skill
When you let go of the wrong lessons you’ve picked up throughout your life, you’ll find new possibilities
Six years ago, product designer Andrei Herasimchuk wrote of an earlier time when he learned the wrong lesson during his career at Adobe. Early into his career as a designer, he had built a prototype over the weekend and a few days into his workweek. One of the product managers, who had worked at Adobe for a while and was well-liked by the team, stopped by Harsimchuk’s cubicle. The following conversation would change his life:
“Well,” they continued, “while I certainly applaud your effort, I must say that you really don’t need to go to this length. You’ll have to do this all the time for all the products going forward. These screenshots you have here are plenty. It’s all we’ve ever done before, so there’s really no need to spend this kind of time on a prototype.”
Next came the mistake. Like I said, one of the biggest ones I’ve made in my career. It’s burned into my brain as if it happened five minutes ago.
I simply said, “Um… Ok. I guess. If you think so.”
I never built another prototype while working at Adobe again.
