How to improve your connection to the devs
A designer’s perspective on fixing a notoriously tricky relationship
We all know it. A lot of effort and thought goes into our designs, we test, iterate, optimize, and improve. And in the end, there are losses in the implementation, because not all things can be executed. That’s just the way it is, there’s not much you can do about it. Is that so?
A problem found in too many places
The developers often struggle to comprehend the design and have a hard time understanding the reasoning behind certain design choices. Sometimes what’s specified, doesn’t fit well with the underlying architecture. And when they deviate from the intended design, it generates frustration on both sides. Especially when we requested additional effort from them with specific design choices that aimed to enhance the user experience. Additionally, in the review, our feedback is frequently not implemented due to a lack of time, it’s deployed as it is. Therefore, the investments made in the design fall short of expectations, resulting in wasted resources and, ultimately, compromising the experience for our users.
On the flip side, I observe that many of us aren’t as deeply invested in the concerns of the developers and that, while struggling, to communicate the design properly. Ideas like inviting developers to user tests so that they build up a better understanding of design decisions are valuable, but one-sided and add more work on top of colleagues that are already running at the limit.
Our situation at Brabbler. Brabbler was a startup dealing with secure communication. When I joined in 2018 as a simple UI & UX designer, we documented designs in static dimensioned files which we handed over via Jira (and therefore not searchable, highly fragmented, and redundant). While we had a design system, just as development worked with components, both systems were not congruent. And on top of that, we (of course) hardly talked to each other.
Ways to approach…
Take ownership
It can’t be that we as designers take ourselves out of this! See the developers for what they are: Users! Users of the design you produce! So treat them like users and try to engage with their lives.
Approach them, talk to them, and be interested in their wishes and requirements. Learn to develop a little yourself. Do an internship.
These are areas that are necessarily dependent on each other, and yet we are often so bad at being familiar with each other.
Brabbler. At my previous workplace, we had no separation between design and front-end development. So I was somewhere in between the two roles when I joined Brabbler and had easy access to this intersection.
Find a (or be the) sponsor and work with the culture
Two things are fundamental to getting anything going in a company: a) it needs a sponsor from the management who supports the project, who is important to be taken seriously and to get other areas of the company on board for the project and b) the culture in the company has to be understood, in the end it is the mission to shape it.
Brabbler. Our Director of Product Matthias Heigel and Director of Design Kago Gorissen supported me and gave me the platform to address the relationship between development and design. Additionally, I already had some connection to the devs (because of the perspective mentioned).
Invite them to co-create
Understand it as a user-centered design process, and embrace that. When you have them available anyway, get them on board to co-create the solution.
Brabbler. I assembled a team consisting of representatives from our development teams, product management, and design. Furthermore, we actively sought input from colleagues outside the process through regular discussions and collected feedback during company events.
Three operative things we did at Brabbler
Improve the dialog — the obvious one
We restructured meetings to facilitate a better conversation. We brought the development team into the dialogue very early on in the design process and collected possible concerns. Vice versa, we not only looked at the implementation once at the end of the development but were also involved in shoulder-to-shoulder discussions. The tricky part here was to change the culture to respect each other, to be accountable, and transform this dialog into a routine.
Align our systems — the kinda tricky one
That one should be self-explanatory. We made sure the design system and the dev components are in sync as much as possible. And while it needed a lot of coordination to get and keep them in sync, it was actually worth the effort.
Implement a single source of truth — the golden one
We transferred the communication of the designs from Jira to a dedicated platform, which functioned as the single source of truth. This reduced overhead and confusion, and thus the overall frustration, noticeably the most!
A particular hurdle: for contractual reasons, all of Brabblers’ work data had to be on-premise, including the design documentation. Thus, solutions like zeroheight or Supernova weren’t viable options (don’t even think about Figma), and instead, we had to build our own platform based on catalog. This, admittedly, required most members of the design team to leave their familiar environment.
Outcomes: through the design lens
We suddenly had a dialogue. Things could be implemented noticeably closer and more efficiently. As the design team, we felt understood, and long-standing issues began to find resolutions. Thereby opening doors for a new flow of ideas and insights, and improving the overall climate within the company noticeably.
And from what I can tell, it wasn’t just us in design who felt this way. To quote our Director of Engineering, Jens Neuhalfen:
“In my role as Director of Engineering at Brabbler AG, it was a pleasure to work with Mr. Kalkuhl. Mr. Kalkuhl excellently understood how to optimize the intersection between UX/design and development and thus make a valuable contribution to increasing efficiency.”
Conclusion
In the end, everyone can only gain from investing here. It saves both money and frustration while fostering improved collaboration throughout the company. Closer collaboration opens the doors to enhanced creativity and innovation.
Tackling this intersection is not always a smooth journey. At Brabbler, there were moments where keeping everyone aligned proved challenging. I lost my fellow designers at least a few times along the way. However, despite the hurdles, the rewards make it all worthwhile. The positive impact on our work environment and the outcomes we achieve make the effort truly meaningful.
