ADDC 2018 - Sara Cambridge: Designer/developer collaboration: what works and what doesn’t

What does effective designer/developer collaboration look like? Having interviewed a wide range of designers and developers about their collaboration process, Sara has uncovered many insights into what works and what doesn’t. She will also explain how and why better products get made when all those involved in building them attend research.

More about the talk, authors & slides: https://addconf.com/2018/schedule/designer-developer-collaboration-what-works-and-what-doesnt/
Read about the conference: https://addconf.com

Transcript

1. App Design & Development Conference 2018 Designer/developer collaboration: what works and what doesn’t Sara Cambridge @maybanks
2. • Material Design • Patterns in designer/developer collaboration • What works, what doesn’t • Best practices for effective teams
3. Material Design
4. Material Design System is a set of patterns and guidance
5. Material Design System is a library of components
6. Material Theming: customize for your brand
7. Material has a suite of tools and products
8. Material Design System offers guidelines material.io
9. Material Design Research
10. Workflow Research Areas Product Components
11. Over 100 interviews with designers and developers
12. General patterns in designer/developer collaboration
13. What does designer/developer collaboration look like? Design Develop
14. What does designer/developer collaboration look like? Design Develop
15. http://www.missionmission.org/2016/04/04/ping-pong-at-pops/
16. Phases of designer/developer collaboration
18. Designer/developer collaboration This reflects the process for more mature orgs. All stages are fluid and often overlap. Initial Concepting • Design driven • Developers uncover constraints, address feasibility Handoff Begins • Both roles involved • Implementation starts; design continues • Usually includes design specs or mocks Implementation • Developer driven • Design ‘officially’ finished, but... • Ongoing communication often needed
19. Designer/developer collaboration This reflects the process for more mature orgs. All stages are fluid and often overlap. Initial Concepting • Design driven • Developers uncover constraints, address feasibility Handoff Begins • Both roles involved • Implementation starts; design continues • Usually includes design specs or mocks. Implementation • Developer driven • Design ‘officially’ finished. • Communication often needed to clarify intent.
20. “Everything I did before this was worse, and I don’t know what would be better.” iOS developer
21. https://wifflegif.com/gifs/43998-lost-in-translation-scarlett-johansson-gif
22. Designer/developer collaboration: what works and what doesn’t
23. 4 aspects that influence how designers/developers collaborate
24. Culture: company/team/nationality Proximity: remote/co-located Personal: skills, history, passions Communication: personality, tools
25. What doesn’t work
26. “I’m trying to work with [our dev team in India]. I spend a lot of time trying to maintain clear communication and direction.” Senior in-house designer for a large e-commerce company
27. “Ideally I make redlines, but things can still change; recently I ended up having to make 7 versions of redlines [due to getting stakeholder changes late].” UX designer
28. “A lot of times I don't ask questions because I don't want to interrupt the designer so much. Sometimes I wait a day if I've already asked too many questions.” In-house Android developer
29. Problems occur between designers and developers when...
30. The company values one role more Time, language, culture differences Infrequent/indirect communication Little respect, understanding Design is under or over specified Process isn’t improved
31. What does work
32. “I’m interested in development in general and I try to make their lives easier. It’s mutual, we help each other out.” Design lead at a design/development agency
33. “After handoff...engineers will grab designers on the fly [if they have questions]. When an engineer gets a milestone, they call the designer over for feedback.” In-house designer manager at a mid-size startup
34. “The process [of collaborating] varies depending on the experience of the designer. More junior designers won’t think about edge cases, while more senior ones will.” Google developer/team lead
35. What improves collaboration between designers and developers...
36. Company culture values both roles Both are given time for their work Ongoing, direct communication Mutual curiosity about the other Process is evaluated/improved
37. Best practices for effective teams
38. When you’re talking with someone, how often are you crafting your response while they are still talking?
39. Cognitive empathy: “Purposefully discovering the underlying thoughts that guide someone else’s behavior and acknowledging them as valid, even if they differ from your own.” Indy Young, Practical Empathy, 2015
40. To improve empathy: “Practice listening to people; shut down your inner voice so you can hear more clearly. Recognize your own emotional reactions before they distract your ability to listen.” Indy Young, Practical Empathy, 2015
41. What separates teams that do great work from those that don’t?
42. Chapter Title
43. Psychological Safety: “The belief that it’s absolutely OK, in fact expected, to speak up with concerns, questions, ideas, even mistakes.” Amy Edmonson, 2014 TED talk
44. Increasing psychological safety: 1. Frame the work as a learning opportunity. 2. Acknowledge your own fallibility. 3. Model curiosity by speaking up. Amy Edmonson, 2014 TED talk
45. Practical tips from Material Design team members
46. Foster ongoing conversations Discuss communication preferences Be explicit about definitions Share artifacts Improve processes Consider checklists
47. A story about a design/development agency….
48. “It’s just people talking to people”.
49. Participate in Material research! https://goo.gl/36fhE4 Thanks! Questions? @maybanks