Therapeutic Design: Building Trust with Aerospace Engineers

Designers at NASA act as therapists for aerospace engineers, fostering empathy, human connection, and simplified design for effective collaboration.

### Design is Therapy: The Emotional Dynamics of Aerospace Engineering
* 🚀 Joyce C., a designer at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, describes her role as a "**therapist for aerospace engineers**," emphasizing the importance of **human-centered design** in a highly technical field.
* 🤝 To work effectively with challenging stakeholders, Joyce offers three key strategies: **practice empathy**, **be human**, and **simplify design**.
* 🧠 Practicing empathy involves learning the stakeholders' **tool set (e.g., spreadsheets)**, taking an interest in their work, and being **patient with their expertise**.
* 😊 Being human includes being approachable, creating connections, and **pointing out deliberate social errors** to make oneself more relatable.
* ✏ Simplified design involves **showing work early and often**, using **small words to avoid jargon**, and **educating stakeholders about design decisions** along the way.
* 💼 Joyce emphasizes that as designers, they play a **crucial role** in bringing people together, facilitating communication, and **solving complex problems**.
* 🌌 She concludes by highlighting the importance of recognizing the **"invisible work" of design**, which involves **getting people to collaborate and align towards a common goal**.

[Music] Hey everybody, thanks so much for being here. You guys are amazing. Ah, okay, let's get started. All right, we're going to do Design is Therapy: The Emotional Dynamics of Aerospace Engineering. My name is Joyce C., and I am a designer, and I work here at the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, yes, located in a little place called La Canada Flintridge, just next door to Pasadena, which is just outside of Los Angeles. A quick shout out to my watch party back home, love you guys. All right, so the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, or JPL as it's commonly known, is a little different than the nine other NASA centers in that we do not work with astronauts, we work with robots. Our goal is to advance Humanity with autonomous Explorations, or as I like to tell people, we fly computers in space. All right, at JPL, we are mostly known for our Rovers, and this is an animation of our most recent and still operational Rover, Perseverance, exploring the surface of Mars. Now, we are also known for our

helicopter. And this is an animation of our helicopter, Ingenuity, flying over the surface of Mars. Now, this is not an animation, this is actual footage of Ingenuity taken by Perseverance on one of its flights this past January. Ingenuity crashed during one of its flights. Its initial goal was to fly five missions in the span of 30 days, but it actually ended up flying 72 times, spending more than two hours in the air, and traveling 14 times further than was initially planned. Now, since it crashed, it is no longer sending data back to us, but it is still continuing to collect data, still hard at work. But once we get to the Martian planet and collect Ingenuity, it will have a wonderful gift for all of us. Now, JPL is a leader in robotic space exploration, and our motto is Dare Mighty Things. In fact, we believe in Dare Mighty Things so much that the engineering team at JPL that worked on the parachute for Perseverance put it in binary code. Now, this was a really big secret. Not

many people knew about it, including most of us who worked at JPL. Uh, but hours after it was deployed and broadcasted on TV, lots of redditors and tweeters online worked quickly and deciphered the code. So, D Mighty things is in the inner rings, and the outer ring has the GPS coordinates for JPL. Now, I have to say, it's pretty clever, and it's pretty rad to work at a place that does stuff like this. So, Innovation is in our DNA, and when I tell people that I work at Nasa, well, the response is usually, Oo, you work at Nasa, you must be really smart. And when I tell people that I'm a designer at Nasa, well, the response is a little bit different. It usually goes, What does a designer at Nasa do? So, I'd like to answer this question. As a designer at Nasa, what exactly do I do? So, I'd like to get some assumptions out of the way first, and this might be some of the things that you guys are thinking right now. Is what my mom thinks I do. Hi

Mom, she thinks that I present plans to destroy the Death Star. I wish, uh, what my friends think I do, uh, my nephews think I do this too. They spin around in space like an astronaut. What Society thinks I do, um, something with UFOs, alien autopsies, aliens. No, that guy's got the best hair in the biz. Uh, what my bosses think I do, uh, this might look a little familiar to us designers here. I fight for the user. And what NASA Engineers think I do, they think that I sit at my desk and draw pictures of rockets all day. Would be fun. And then finally there's what I think I do. I like to think of myself as a therapist for aerospace engineers. Now, probably thinking that's far from the role of a designer, right? Not really, because being a designer is not just about designing a thing. Being a designer is working with people to make things better. And as a designer at JPL, I spend the majority of my time talking to people. I'm a translator. I'm a mediator. Just

like a therapist. So, how did it get this way? Well, to answer that question, we got to take a few steps back and look at the larger problem. Well, first, space is expensive. It takes years to plan a mission, and that requires lots of resources and usually ends up costing lots of dollars. Space is a complex problem. It's super sciency, it's high risk, and it has many points of failure. And finally, space requires lots of people to work on a mission. This is a photo of the Mars 2020 Perseverance Rover team. These are the people that worked on just that Rover. They didn't all fit on that slide either. These are the people that I work with. These are my stakeholders, these are my users, and there's a lot of them. There are a lot of really, really ridiculously smart people. They can actually call themselves rocket scientists. Many of them have multi-PhDs. They went super deep into a particular type of science, so their expertise is hyper-specific. And because it's science, it's also math. It's a lot of math.

love math, and they were told early on that if you want to do math, you got to use a spreadsheet, and that's what they do. It's part of their process, and they don't want to change anytime soon because systems engineers have been using spreadsheets for decades to get us to space. July 1969, spreadsheets were used to get us on the moon. February 2021, some 50 years later, this is the mission control room at JPL during the landing of perseverance on Mars. I want to zoom in a little bit on these screens. You guys see what I see? Spreadsheets. Spreadsheets are an important tool to NASA engineers because they do all of their work in spreadsheets, from the mundane to the complex and everything in between. It was used to get us on the moon, used to land the Rover on Mars. They organize, they calculate, they even use them to communicate with each other. Here's the problem: because they rely on spreadsheets to communicate with each other, when they do actually start talking to each other, we get a lot of

this and this is where I come in as a designer at NASA. I work to improve processes, tools, and communication to make mission development less costly and that gets us to space faster. But to do that requires dealing with the humans I have to work with - that huge group of people who love science, love math, and love those spreadsheets. And with all of that comes some very challenging personalities. So yes, they are rocket scientists, they're really ridiculously smart, but I have to go in with the mindset to not be intimidated. So today I am going to give you three things that I have learned while working with challenging people and hope that you come away with something. This will be fun, I promise. You guys ready? Yes, all right, let's go. All right, number one: practice empathy. My stakeholders are kind of different than any other stakeholder I previously worked with - super smart, opinionated, they love to overprocess, and they're very set in their ways. So I have to be empathetic to better understand the people that I'm

designing for, and as designers, we always hear that we must have empathy for our users, right? So here's some ways to get started: learn their tool set. So, since working at JPL, I now use the engine-preferred tool: spreadsheets. Can you believe it? I do a lot of my work in spreadsheets because it's super functional. I organize, I sort, I analyze my data all in spreadsheets. And since adopting that spreadsheet mentality, I now see the value in their work. Since using their tools, I now understand my users better. Learn their tool set, take an interest in people. So, this is: listen, engage, ask follow-up questions to show that you are listening. It's about passionate listening. Now, what I actually like to do is I like to play stupid. I like to go into a conversation with these nerds, you know, not knowing anything, which actually isn't that hard when they want to talk about something super nerdy like quantum atom infometer micro-califragilistic, right? I made that up, but whatever it is, they are super passionate.

about it, and people appreciate when you take an interest. So take an interest, listen; it goes a very long way. And to do that requires a little bit of patience, right? Well, for me, it actually takes a lot of deep breaths and a lot of patience. I'm not a very patient person to begin with, so especially when my stakeholders tell me these extremely long-winded stories about their historical contributions on some obscure flight project that they worked on some 20-plus years ago. It happens often, so a lot of deep breaths and be patient. Number two, be human. Unfortunately, like COVID really kind of set us back, and I feel like we need a little reminder here, a little refresher on this one. So be approachable, be personable, because we're now buried in numerous daily emails and chat messages and boring WebEx teams meetings, right? All of that takes us increasingly further away from the actual humans who use our products. So I like to be aware of this and make myself available. I go into the office, I show my face.

smile. I have hallway conversations, walk and talk coffees, which I love. I'm active in Slack when I'm not in the office. I'm there, engage with people, be approachable, be personable, and you'll find that your users will start to come to you with everything. Create connections, connect with people, create a rapport. So when you take an interest in others and you make yourself personable, you'll find that you guys have similarities, common interests. We're really not that different from each other. And for me to connect with my fellow space nerds, I throw out a Star Wars reference. We have a love for science fiction movie, so Star Wars reference, and I'm in, right? And for those of you keeping score, there were two in this presentation. Now you're trying to remember, right? Point is, you can find the similarities, find those connections, because you don't have to look far. Point out deliberate social errors. Now, this may not be so obvious, but this is an important one because it is all about making yourself vulnerable. Thank you. Now, for me, when I'm

talking in a meeting. I will purposely mispronounce a word, and I will ask people how it's pronounced. If I spilled my lunch on my clothes, which I actually did earlier today because it happens often, I will actually make it known. These examples make me more relatable; we're all human, none of us are perfect. Others can relate to you. Also, humor helps out too. Don't take yourself too seriously. So weave a mistake into yourself and point it out because being vulnerable builds trust. Number three, simplified design. This is all about making design accessible, making design less mysterious to those who don't understand. Here's some ways on how to do it: show your work early and often. I can't stress this one enough. I love this one. So when I share those spreadsheets that I talked about earlier of how I organize the chaos of a complex problem, I win brownie points with my stakeholders because number one, I'm using their favorite tool, spreadsheets, and number two, I'm bringing them into my

brain and showing them how I process things. So, share your work early and often. Don't be afraid to share that early messy work, you know, your scribble notes and designs, early ideas. Give them a look under the hood because if you show them by bringing them in early, you'll get buy-in faster, and you'll end up solving the problem a lot faster. Show work early and often. All right, yes, use small words. So, at JPL, we are already inundated with lots of big sciency words and so many acronyms. JPL loves acronyms. Add to that, my stakeholders are already mystified by my discipline of design, and all that tends to lose people very easily. So, I like to save those big 50-cent fluffy design terms and go with simple words because the gist here is if my stakeholders don't understand me, they will not follow me. And then finally, educate about design along the way, just finding little moments, opportunities to give a little design fun fact. Here's an example. I like to explain

to my stakeholders why I use green red and yellow in the UI of my applications. It's because stop lights have created those color standards for good, bad, and morning. We all know this, my stakeholders don't, and they appreciate it. So if I can show my stakeholders the rationale for my design decisions, I get them on board a lot faster. So educate about design along the way. All right, here's my money slide. Dollar, dollar bill y'all. So as a designer, I use all of these principles to build trust with my stakeholders, to get buying faster in a very challenging environment. All right, so let's start to wrap this up. We're coming up on time. So I've given you some nuggets. I hope that you can use them. What do you do now? What do I send you out into the world with? All right, design. It's people. This is a great movie if you don't know it. So it may not be the glamorous job you had in mind when you hear that I'm a designer at

Nasa, but it is the most challenging and rewarding job I've ever had. And it's not because I'm helping Humanity, not just because I'm helping Humanity, but because I realize how important and essential designers are to an organization. As designers, we are the problem solvers. We bring people together. We get them to communicate, just like a therapist. And I encourage you all to be more like a therapist because we're designers. We deal with the humans so others don't have to, or in the case of my stakeholders, they just aren't very good at it. So, this is the hard part of the job, the part that nobody told me about early in my career when I started out as a designer. It's getting people to talk, getting them to align, and getting them to work with each other. And that is the invisible work. It is important work and it needs to be recognized because it exists everywhere in every organization that is design. And when we get people together to collaborate, great things can be accomplished.

we can continue to DARE mighty things together. All right, that's my time. All right, I'm going to sign. [Applause] Off. Thank you. [Music]

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The Emotional Dynamics of Aerospace Engineering at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory

Aerospace engineering at NASA's JPL focuses on autonomous explorations with robots, including the successful mission of the Perseverance Rover and the Ingenuity helicopter on Mars.

Despite Ingenuity's crash, it exceeded expectations by flying 72 times and collecting valuable data.

The JPL engineering team demonstrated innovation by encoding a secret message in binary code on the Perseverance parachute, showcasing the lab's commitment to daring mighty things.

A JPL designer explains the misconceptions about their job, emphasizing their role as a mediator and translator for aerospace engineers.

The designer highlights the challenges of space missions, emphasizing the complexity, high risk, and the involvement of a large number of highly specialized experts.

The use of spreadsheets by NASA engineers is crucial for their work, from organization to communication, and has been a longstanding tool since the 1969 moon landing.

Navigating Challenging Personalities as a NASA Designer

As a NASA designer, I work with highly intelligent and opinionated individuals, requiring me to practice empathy and patience.

By learning their tool set and taking a genuine interest in them, I have been able to better understand my stakeholders.

It is also important for me to maintain a human approach, be approachable, and make myself available in the midst of a technology-driven work environment.

Building Strong Connections in the Workplace

Building connections through casual interactions and finding common ground can make you more approachable to your colleagues.

Being vulnerable and showing your human side can help others relate to you and build trust.

Simplifying design and making it more accessible to others, such as by sharing your work early and often, can help strengthen connections with stakeholders.

Share your work early and often to get buy-in faster and solve problems more efficiently.

Use simple words and avoid complex jargon to ensure that stakeholders can easily follow and understand you.

Educate stakeholders about design along the way, using moments to explain the rationale behind your design decisions and build trust.

The Essential Role of Designers in Organizations

Designers play a crucial role as problem solvers and facilitators of communication within organizations.

Their work of bringing people together and fostering collaboration is challenging but essential.

Despite being invisible, this aspect of the designer's job is crucial for accomplishing great things as a team.