Coming from the development side of things myself, I've always found
it crucial to have a close relationship with the developers. This
includes letting them participate in some of the discussions and
design sessions early on. This lets them feel like they have more of a
stake in the end product than simply being the machine that stamps out
the widget you designed. They were part of the design, they've heard
you talk about it, they've talked about it, perhaps they even through
in an idea or two. This is in addition of course to all of the stuff
you mentioned.
Another thing this ensures is that you haven't requested a
functionality that is beyond the scope of the current development time-
frame, or the technology you're currently using. Developers sometimes
look at something and say - "Well, I can spend 2 hours building this
with an existing control or build it as designed and it'll take 12
hours. Maybe they won't really notice or care..." If they were part of
the design discussions early on, the functionality won't be a
surprise, and it's specific qualities/nuances will have been built
into the schedule before it was even handed off to them.
Also - by having a close, friendly relationship with them, they're a
bit less likely to do whatever the heck they want just 'cause they
feel like it, because they respect and like you, and by extension,
your designs.
One area where I found this to be happening at one company with Agile/
Scrum was when the dev. team was ahead of the design team. They knew
what widgets needed to be built, and so they were busy hammering out
the widgets before design had even been completed/approved. Then, when
the final designs came along, they implemented them in the easiest
possible way, around the widget and controls they'd already built,
rather than building it from scratch.
This is a somewhat larger problem, in that the whole software
development process is reversed. We had to ask the dev. lead and
project manager to figure out something else to do with developers
instead of trying to work ahead of the design team - it ended up
happening cost us more because they were building each widget twice -
once before design and once after to get it right.
Brandon E. B. Ward
[email protected]
UI • UX • Ix Design
Flex • Flash Development
Portfolio: http://www.uxd.me
LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/brandonebward
VisualCV: http://www.visualcv.com/brandonebward
A human being should be able to change a diaper, plan an invasion,
butcher a hog, conn a ship, design a building, write a sonnet, balance
accounts, build a wall, set a bone, comfort the dying, take orders,
give orders, cooperate, act alone, solve equations, analyze a new
problem, pitch manure, program a computer, cook a tasty meal, fight
efficiently, die gallantly. Specialization is for insects.
- Robert A. Heinlein
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