Trade Theater for Traction

Success Theater

In his book, The Lean Startup, Eric Ries described a phenomenon he called success theater; the work that we do to make ourselves look successful. When we are engaged in success theater, our energy is spent on building the appearance of growth or success, rather than on building the business. The most common prop in this performance is the use of vanity metrics; numbers that look impressive on a slide but do little to deepen understanding or drive meaningful business results.

Designers are not immune to this phenomenon. Whether it's justifying decisions with elaborate decks, cherry-picking user metrics to show progress to the CEO, or running workshops that produce no follow-through, most designers have found themselves caught in this trap.

Theater vs. Traction

I refer to this divide between performative and meaningful work as theater vs traction. Theater is polished, impressive, and reassuring, but ultimately it doesn't move the needle. Traction is less glamorous and messier, but it’s where real change happens. Theater and traction can look almost identical from the outside. The difference is whether the effort ends with the performance, or whether it carries through to meaningful action.

• Theater is about rituals. Traction is about creating impact.
• Theater is using design to settle an argument. Traction is pivoting your ideas once new data is uncovered.
• Theater is artifacts and activities. Traction is about producing outcomes and results.
• Theater is about the performance of empathy. Traction is about creating the conditions for change.

Transforming Theater into Traction

How can designers escape the trap of performative design and success theater? To start, we have to understand what causes designers to resort to theater over traction.