Justice Between Code and Design: Which One Should We Stand For?
“There is no greater burden than choosing who to save.” — Kamahl
Somehow the quote above is quite excessive to become a depiction, but surely it describes the feeling of facing this situation: “Should we keep the code as it works well and let the inconsistency shadow between boxes slide? However, the design looks weird if we don’t tidy it up.”
Even after the decision is made and the project has been passed, often the dilemma still goes strong in our mind.
As a product manager, engineer, designer, or any role in the tech industry, either in the team or individually, have you ever been in that tough situation too? If so, at least we are on the same boat! ✊
As UX Engineers are in between developers and designers, it’s impossible for us to escape the decision making between code and design. I remember we once had a case like this: all the designed project pages have already completed and almost everything have been translated to code. Unfortunately, from the developer’s perspective, one of the translated section turns out to be too wasteful to only achieve the feature. On the other hand, the design already fits perfectly and it would take more effort to revise it again.
Should we add extra days for designers to change the layout to prioritize better performance from code efficiency? Not quite wise tho.
Or should we let the heavy code goes as is to stick to the design? Possible, but still not a win-win solution.
Or maybe we should forget it all and go to sleep instead? Ofc not :(
As it happens quite often, I realize there are more technical ways that we can do as a support of the decision. I have implemented this and turned out to be pretty helpful rather than just relying on intuition.
The first thing is let’s look back to the initial goals. Sometimes we forget with the initial goals and leak out the scope because we want all things to be perfect. Superfine if in the beginning, we made the reference document that we can look back to, such as Product or Functional Specification Document.
Is an interface revamp one of the objectives in the project? Or maybe the goal is only to add some minor features which have not been implemented yet? Wiser if we prioritize the one that was mentioned in the scope, although the chosen one may not be your fave.
Next, use tools that suit the cases.
“There are no keys to success, only tools.” — Criss Jemi
Surely Criss Jemi told us that for a reason. The tool that I use is the Time Matrix Management Table.
There are 4 Quadrants representing each priority level:
Q1: Something is urgent and important, clearly should be done as soon as possible.
Q2: Something that is not urgent but important.
Q3: Something that urges us but actually unimportant and quite wasteful to put effort on.
Q4: Not urgent and not important, only drain you out.
Once we know the priority level of the task from the identification of the initial goals before, map the options to the quadrant blocks. Q1 comes first, then Q2, and so on.
Also, sharing the problem with others could bring unexpected new insight. Whether they are your fellow team members, superiors, or even best pals, they could bring another point of view that leads you towards the answer. Sometimes team members and most likely the superiors would share some experiences that we could learn from.
Based on a California researchers study, sharing experiences or discussing problems with people in similar situations also could help people deal with stress in the workplace. The study claimed that sharing a hard situation can buffer individuals from experiencing heightened levels of stress that typically accompany the threat. So, the old saying ‘a problem shared is a problem halved’ can’t be wrong.
No less important, always believe in yourself. The created doubt will likely make you lose confidence. However, you should remember that humans have a special power to confer value of the option rationally or without being told.
A professor of philosophy, Ruth Chang, once in her TED Talk said, “ Hard choices are precious opportunities for us to celebrate what is special about the human condition, that we have the power to create reasons for ourselves to become the distinctive people that we are.”
If you get the responsibility, that means you are capable to carry on it.
That is all, hope it will help lighten your feeling at least. If you have other ways to share, let me know!
And hopefully now you know the answer of this question: which one will you stand for?
If you’re interested in applying for a full-time position or intern, Blibli is currently hiring! Send your resume to recruitment@blibli.com and get the chance to work with our PM and UX team and our own unique stories.
