Hybridize or die
Engineers, designers, the minds (and pockets) of the 21st century implore you to hybridize.
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Two years ago, and almost six thousand miles away, I was a Computer Science student in Madrid, sitting in Software Engineering class. We were studying the different ways to manage an engineering project. After getting a lecture about the wonders of agile development, I raised my hand: ‘Where does the design go?’.
The professor looked at me, looked at the beautiful color-coded chart on the screen (representing the stages of agile development), and looked back at me: ‘It doesn’t. What do you mean, kid?’
‘Well, it’s a software project, but I guess someone will need to design an appealing interface, right?’.
The professor laughed loudly. ‘Don’t worry about the design. This is an engineering project. You can outsource that stuff.’.
The next year I took the first chance I could to go abroad and I escaped from my university. I finished my CS degree in Sweden, and I did my thesis on User Experience and Human-Computer Interaction.
Being a good engineer is not enough anymore. If your code is beautifully written and you know every possible Javascript secret, that’s wonderful, but if you can’t speak to designers and strategists, you may get away with it for a couple of years, but not much further than that.
I will summarize it for you: the world is changing. Consumers are better informed individuals (and so is your boss). For decades, we’ve been creating products (software or not) in an assembly line. Designers on one side of the building, programmers on the other. Product managers for design, product managers for code. This is not good enough anymore. The amazing products of today are like a good sushi roll: it’s composed by different high-quality ingredients, but they all combine and dissolve harmonically in your mouth. Your product needs to be an orchestra of sounds, code, smiles, colors, motion, and shapes.
Engineers, no one is asking you to design Picasso’s Guernica.
Designers, no one is asking you to code the Matrix. What I’m asking you, your users are asking you, what you should be asking yourself, and what your boss will be asking you (if he or she isn’t already) is to hybridize. Make an extra effort to learn what your co-workers are doing, emulate them, learn from them, absorb their knowledge.
“Jack of all trades, master of none”. Sure, whatever, why not? Have your core skills, the ones you feel absolutely most comfortable executing, and then become flexible enough to wear more hats than one. You’ll find yourself ready for a market that now needs people that are able to cover their vertical part in a project, but also add a significant value to the horizontal layers in their deliverables.
Hybridizing may be acquired through different paths, and it doesn’t just apply to designers and engineers. Strategists, product/project/program managers, communications specialists, and more bring an invaluable segment of their expertise to a product. This value will be hundreds of times more decisive and valuable when you start understanding a wide range of factors that influence the product you’re working on.
Alright, let’s go to more actionable statements. I propose you do the following:
- Think of a co-worker you collaborate with on a daily basis and you value, preferably working on a field other than yours. (Example: If you’re an engineer, find a designer or strategist; if you’re a designer, find an engineer or a comms specialist).
- Analyze what he/she does. Not just their field, but also what their actual deliverables are in the project you work together. What is their tangible contribution? What do they actually do?
- Approach your co-worker and ask him/her to teach you how to do that, or to at least show you how it’s done. If you are shy or don’t feel comfortable doing that, just observe them, see how they do things, try to compare their skills with yours.
- In your free time, try to emulate them. If you’re an engineer and you’re trying to hybridize to design, try to do simple exercises. It can be from something more though-process related to something more visual and tangible. Go crazy, open Illustrator or Photoshop, and start designing stuff. It doesn’t matter if it looks like it was designed by Dr. Frankenstein. Keep trying, find tutorials on the Internet. If you’re trying to hybridize to engineering, find some manuals and tutorials on the Internet, ask in forums, Google it. If you’re trying to learn more about product strategy, analyze the product you’re working on at work and try to come up with interesting points of view with respect to user research, the marketing strategy, or even general ideas of its vision.
This works, I’m not that crazy. A co-worker of mine, who is a designer with a strong background in visual and motion design, is learning to code. She’ll be coding and designing in no time.
Do it. The knowledge you will acquire will be priceless. You will be able to understand your peers better, meeting deadlines in an easier way, and you will find yourself motivated to learn even more (trust me, the mojo for learning is something you cultivate, and once it starts growing, you’re in for a treat). (Ok, that didn’t sound right).
Hybridize or die. It’s the new evolution of the 21st century.
Are you ready?
