we're all designers: encouraging collaboration in design without forming a committee
DESCRIPTION
Product design and development often involves many people of different roles who enter and leave at different parts of a project. However, this can cause communication problems and responses that sound like "you're the designer", "that'll take too much time", or "that's not my job" when people attempt to collaborate. In this talk, Catt discussed methods used to cross silos in order to speed up the design and development process while also building camaraderie, agency, and transparency. She also discussed ways to encourage teams that may be reluctant to change and ways to get upper management on board with a more collaborative design process.TRANSCRIPT
@cattsmall@cattsmall
We’re All Designers
@cattsmall@cattsmall
● Product Designer at SoundCloud
● Previously worked with companies such as Bedrocket, NASDAQ OMX, & ParksByNature
● Game artist & programmer
● Event Organizer for Tech Under Thirty
● Co-founder, Code Liberation
I’m Catt Small!
@cattsmall@cattsmall
● The benefits of collaborative design
● Ways to collaborate on design
● Crossing silos created by traditional teams
● Getting the higher-ups on board
We’ll talk about:
@cattsmall@cattsmall
The benefits of collaborative design
@cattsmall@cattsmall
Do you own 4 or more devices?
@cattsmall@cattsmall
“Americans now own four digital devices on average...” & spend “...60 hours a week consuming content across
devices”Nielsen, 2014 U.S. Digital Consumer Report
@cattsmall@cattsmall
Problem:Product teams need increased efficiency
@cattsmall@cattsmall
Solution:Everyone contributes to the product design
@cattsmall@cattsmall
Why?
@cattsmall@cattsmall
More ideas being shared
Designer’s ideas PM’s ideas
Developer’s ideas
@cattsmall@cattsmall
Better communication
Design terminology Programming terminology
Planning Design decisions
@cattsmall@cattsmall
Quicker production
KickoffResearch & Design
Sprint
Design Review
Modify Designs
Design Review
Modify Designs
Design Review
Tech Review
Modify Designs
Tech Review
Dev Sprint
QA & Launch
@cattsmall@cattsmall
Quicker production
KickoffResearch & Design
Sprint
Test & Review
Modify Designs
Test & Review
Modify Designs
Test & Review
Dev Sprint
QA & Launch
@cattsmall@cattsmall
How to do efficientcross-team design
@cattsmall@cattsmall
Sketching exercises
@cattsmall@cattsmall
Design the experience’s flow
@cattsmall@cattsmall
Hear from other points of view
Designer Developer
PM
@cattsmall@cattsmall
Define a design direction
Sketch
Screenshot of prototype
@cattsmall@cattsmall
Reduced documentationI was there
when the idea was created!
Developer
@cattsmall@cattsmall
Designing with code
@cattsmall@cattsmall
Visual & interaction design
@cattsmall@cattsmall
Use what your team uses
@cattsmall@cattsmall
Use whatever works for you
@cattsmall@cattsmall
Reduced documentation
I can just read the code!
Developer
@cattsmall@cattsmall
Designer-developer pairing
@cattsmall@cattsmall
Design
Code
Learn from each other
Designer Developer
@cattsmall@cattsmall
See designs come to life
@cattsmall@cattsmall
Reduced documentation
It’s already been built!
Developer
@cattsmall@cattsmall
Ways to cross silos
@cattsmall@cattsmall
Involvement
Designer Developer
Want to participate in
this design exercise?
Sure!
@cattsmall@cattsmall
Feedback
Designer Developer
Can you try using this design? Let me know your thoughts.
Okay!
@cattsmall@cattsmall
Chats & link-sharing
Check out the design I just posted. LMK when I can come over and chat|
I think you’d like this conference, what do you think? http://flowcon.org/
Very cool!
@cattsmall@cattsmall
End-to-end teamsStream
PM
Monetization
PM
Creators
PM
@cattsmall@cattsmall
Getting managementon board
@cattsmall@cattsmall
Propose your ideas
I think this would be beneficial. Can we try it?
Designer Manager
Hmm!
@cattsmall@cattsmall
Try without approvalPeople loved
sketching! It also increased our
efficiency.
Designer
Great!
Manager
@cattsmall@cattsmall
In summary:● Collaborative design makes teams more
efficient & better at communication.
● There’s no one-size-fits-all solution for collaboration; compromise when needed.
● Ask people for involvement & feedback.
● Take initiative and apologize later – things don’t always sound good on paper.
@cattsmall@cattsmall
Thank you! Questions?Think of questions later?
Tweet @cattsmallEmail [email protected]