[mrdonbrown]

I recently did an interview on this topic [1] and I was surprised to hear the designer say, "If the developer tells me to design whatever and they'll build it, that is a huge fail". I kinda assumed designers were in their own world where we (developers) met at the DMZ, but his point is we are all part of the same team. The more I thought about it, the more sense it made.

[1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Oi913i2mCA

[musingsole]

That hardline hand-off from design to developer is only desired by arrogance (arrogant designers or arrogant developers). It should be obvious on the face of it that good design is about compromises between perhaps pure goals and what's attainable with the tech you have AND what's attainable with the product team you have.

Ditto for hardline requirements from project management. It's either a CYOA strategy or a holier-than-thou mentality.

[mrdonbrown]

Well said. Funny we realized long ago that you can't just have a backend team build an API then throw that the wall to a frontend team to use it, yet somehow, we often try to do that with design. To achieve what you describe takes more than a conversation, but a healthy and active relationship.

[kevan]

Some of the moments I enjoy the most are where I sit in a room with product and design for an hour and we riff on a design. The feedback loops between disciplines are where the magic happens and talking through things in person usually results in a lot of improvement fast.

[mrdonbrown]

Exactly! Faster cycles means less waste and more productivity, not to mention better solutions and happier team members. It takes work for sure to build those relationships, but everyone is better off for them.