Developers and product designers: How to collaborate effectively

I have recently enrolled in an ‘Open working and reuse’ programme run by Third Sector Lab. Over the next few weeks, I am hoping to learn how to communicate and share my ways of working outside of my organisation and beyond!

However, today I am thinking a bit closer to home. I have worked as a product designer in a small multidisciplinary team for a few years now and I’m still learning the most effective ways to collaborate and work openly with developers.

I’ve listed some suggestions below.

Kick off

It’s important to have a kick off meeting at the start of any project, where both disciplines can agree how they are going to collaborate and flag any concerns early on. This might seem obvious but is something that from my experience can easily be overlooked or forgotten, especially with the pressures of a tight deadline.

Things to discuss:

- Tools
- Prioritising and aligning workload
- Timings

Communication

Communication is invaluable. Working openly ensures everyone is clear about the project’s aims and feels comfortable flagging any concerns. It helps if you are all singing from the same hymn sheet.

Agree at the start of a project how and when you will communicate with each other.

That might be:

- Slack
- Comments directly in your design tool eg. Figma
- Adhoc huddles
- Co-design sessions

Remember to allow for differences between colleagues based on communication preference or working hours.

Don’t forget!

Check that everyone is comfortable with the tools you are using. For example, Figma is a new tool for my team. Not everyone has used it before. After feedback from the developers, we had a learning session so members of the team could share their knowledge of the tool and answer any questions. Sharing is caring!