Designing with GitHub

Learn how our team at GitHub works, and how we think about design.

Transcript

1. Designing with GitHub
2. Hi, I’m Steve @orderedlist
3. How our Designers Work
4. Who are we? 28 designers, many disciplines
5. HTML/CSS Front-end designers, developers
6. Native Applications Desktop, iOS, Android
7. Illustration Octocats, animations, branding
8. Print Material Marketing, business ops
9. Video Marketing, education, events
10. Research User studies, product research
11. Our Tool Belt What we use to do what we do
12. Words Yes, words
13. In order to communicate visually to your users, you must be able to communicate verbally to your team.
14. Photoshop Dem PSDs
15. Sketch The software, and the book
16. Illustrator Vector Victor
17. Web Browsers Inspectors man…
18. Text Editors Atom, Sublime, Emacs, etc.
19. Text Chat Campfire, Hubot
20. Video Chat Google Hangouts, BlueJeans
21. GitHub Use GitHub to design GitHub
22. How we Collaborate Design better together
23. Serendipitous Interactions Great ideas from unexpected places
24. Annual Summit Everyone in one place
25. Team Mini-summits Strategy and planning
26. Face to Face Contact Understand tone and personality
27. Remote Working ~70% of GitHub is remote
28. But Why? Isn’t it easier to work in an office?
29. Good People are Everywhere Limiting to geography is, well, limiting
30. 243 GitHubbers 103 cities, as of 9pm yesterday
31. Freedom to Travel Experience the world, while staying productive
33. Family Life Allows for family freedom
35. Personal Happiness Some people don’t want to live where you do, and that’s ok
36. But How? How do you ensure productivity?
37. Remote First Mindset Assume remote in most situations
38. Communication Use your words
39. Asynchronous Workflows Don’t assume people are available whenever you need
40. Text is the Best Searchable, transcripts, notifications, etc.
41. Give People Time to Respond Patience is a virtue, and all that
42. Chat Rooms We have a lot of them
44. Everyone Uses Chat Even if you’re in the office
45. /virtual office me Video chat for that in-office experience
47. GitHub Team Our Internal Status App
49. Don’t Email People No history, terrible threading, it’s just bad
50. And of Course, GitHub Communication with results
51. How we use GitHub Ideas and workflows
52. Teams Permissions, mentions, notifications
55. Design-specific Repos Repos aren’t just for code
56. Assets, sometimes Not always, but it can be great
58. Issues For problems, not solutions
60. Design Documents and Projects Keep an up-to-date record of current efforts
61. Markdown Files Text with benefits
62. History See changes to project direction over time
63. Discussion See the thoughts that lead to conclusions
64. Pull Requests A workflow for proposing changes
65. Woah, Woah, Woah I don’t want to use Git
66. Deal with it, it’s not difficult
67. Let Me Show You github.com/orderedlist/design-example-repo
68. Questions?
69. How Design Works
70. GitHub Zen Finding your design center
71. Features are Expensive Creation, maintenance, complexity, real estate
72. Approachable is Better Than Simple Simple ideas don’t mean simple execution
73. Mind Your Words They are important
74. Communicate Concisely Your customers deserve it
75. Communicate Thoughtfully Your colleagues deserve it
76. Put Effort Into Your Words They are more important than your designs
77. Speak Like a Human Please
78. Non-blocking is Better Than Blocking Don’t get in people’s way
79. Block by Interruption Confirmation, popups, dialogs
80. Block by Overstimulation Over-design, too many options, distractions
81. Block by Complication Requiring too much from the user
83. Favor Focus Over Features Say no to things
84. Perfection is achieved, not when there is nothing more to add, but when there is nothing left to take away. Antoine de Saint-Exupery
86. Anything Added Dilutes Everything Else Be careful about additions
87. When many good ideas present themselves, it's easy to become distracted. Don't let good ideas get in the way of great execution.
88. Starting is Easy, Finishing is Hard The process of shipping is incredibly difficult
89. Wrapping Up A Few Key Points
90. Communication is Important For your designs and your colleagues
91. Design Happens Anywhere Not just your office
92. Backup Your Designs with Words Keep those words meaningful and documented
93. Design Better Together It’s better than designing alone
94. Questions?
95. Thank you!