Melissa Tullio

WORK HISTORY

EDUCATION

ABOUT MELISSA TULLIO

I’ve been doing what I’m doing for some time. This includes almost 8 years as a public servant, followed by almost 8 years in the financial sector. Now I work at a non-profit organization and do what I do to use what I’ve learned in a way that contributes to the public good. A summary of some lessons I’ve learned- Most problems are hard to solve, not because they are hard problems, but because of everything else that surrounds them (people, processes)- Everything surrounding problems doesn’t need to be solved (and usually doesn’t have solutions anyway). The best we can do is agree on the problems we have ambition and some degree of influence to solve, and the boundaries in which we are able to solve them- A reason solutions don’t work is because people haven’t spent enough time thinking about what problems they’re trying to solve, for whom, and the boundaries in which to solve them- Another reason solutions don’t work is because people have spent too much time thinking about how to make a (single) solution perfect. By the time they implement solutions, the problem boundaries and possible solutions have changed- Not everything is a problem to solve. Most things work themselves out, especially when people have agency to work things out for themselves- The most useful design work is achieved when we can clear a space for people to work out their own solutions and codify that way of working so it lives on without external intervention.(We rarely get to do this kind of design work, but we try.)All of this is what I mean by sustainable design (and other stuff, but that’s enough for the purpose of summarizing some lessons). Maybe one other statement, which is more of a values statement than a lesson: I believe people who call themselves designers have an obligation to use their skills for the good of people, and for the long-term survival of the planet that sustains us. If they don’t, I believe they may have missed the entire point of doing this work.