If this ache sounds familiar read on, we at Navyug have overcome this barrier. Our clients often ask us how do you manage the give and take between design and development team.
We all have witnessed or even spoken these very lines;
- To a developer: make this design and please “make it work”
- To a designer: make something intuitive, “make it look elegant and beautiful”
A great product : Intuitive design + Easily maintained code
Designer or developer, both these factors need to be given equal importance, if value for one rises problems follow.
The same principle applies in our everyday lives, things go off the track when balance is disturbed, ideally all project team members/ anyone contributing to a project for its duration should be involved in all phases of the lifecycle.
Collaboration from the very beginning sets the foundation, wireframe should be created concurrently, so both perspectives get voiced at inception. This approach helps minimize situations like, something is designed that will be too costly or time-consuming to implement, or an awkward interaction is developed where a more intuitive interface may have improved the user experience from the start. At any point, it shouldn’t be that a designer cannot grab a developer and ask their opinion on how a given thing will be implemented. Likewise when a developer is implementing a design, they should be able to question the design and voice their concerns or get clarification from the designer.
Occasionally, something that the entire team agreed upon in the wireframe stage doesn’t “feel right” once implemented. When this happens, no matter what side of the coin you’re on, it’s your responsibility to discuss the issues before spending any more time on a potentially less-than-ideal experience for the end user. Mostly during these discussion, we confine ourselves in our own forts, cause of this we fall back on assumptions which makes the project bleed to its death in long term.
Even when the entire project team is all working towards the same goal, there are bound to be differing opinions on matters. This is why having strong leaders in place who can make the hard decisions is paramount. Its essential that everyone feels that their opinion is valued, so that they don’t stop providing it in the future.
All of this may sound obvious or idealistic, but the truth of the matter is that it all starts with the culture you cultivate in your company. In order to work this closely and coordinate with such perfection, flat hierarchy helps everyone to stand on equal footing and leave their egos at the door. No one should be afraid of providing constructive feedback due to unwarranted backlash. Active and uninterrupted collaboration is the key to a successful and healthy design & development team, and that can only be achieved through modesty, interaction and mutual respect.