When a design team gathers for review or critique, less skilled designers approach critiques by defending their design (what I call the design result) instead of sharing their process.
A more skilled design mode is to wonder - how did this design come to be? To share the context, limits, constraints and other approaches explored.
A simple way to facilitate getting past the design surface is to replace your "why" questions with "how" questions.
Example: "why did you do this?" becomes "how did you come to this solution?"
Two benefits of "how" questions:
1. You are asking about the design and not the person.
2. You are asking about the process rather than the result.
💡 Pro tip: If you are asked a why question, don't start proving your reasoning is sound; instead, answer as if you were asked a "how" question about your work.