President Abraham Lincoln once famously stated, “A house divided against itself cannot stand.”
While the historical figure may have been referring to a war-torn political landscape, this same sentiment can be applied to any organization in which the battle between differing ideas can lead to disagreements and disordered solutions.
Take, for instance, engineering and UX design teams. While both factions may work on the same product in many cases, their approaches and perspectives can seem like opposing forces.
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This is something Georgia Bezerra knows well. As a senior design system ops at Gympass, she knows how important it is to create cohesion between engineers and designers, which is why she strives to build a sense of community between both teams.
While there are various steps Bezerra takes to create this union, there is one act she considers especially crucial: “The most important thing is to help designers and engineers see each other as pairs equally capable of building a high-quality solution, which is made possible by combining their forces,” Bezerra said.
Bezerra caught up with Built In Seattle to share her secrets to successful design and engineering collaboration.
What kind of strategies does your team use to facilitate successful communication between designers and engineers?
My favorite strategy used by my team — which focuses on our design system, Yoga — is to create community spaces between design and engineering for them to ask questions, share tips, send requests and share knowledge. These initiatives encourage designers and developers to collaborate on solving problems together and offer solutions.
How does your company culture foster the kind of collaborative relationship required to make the two teams successful?
I like how we have routines for designers and developers to work together. As they see each other as pairs, it’s natural that we receive the demand, plan solutions together, refine to see if we’re on the right path and perform tests. It’s important to ensure that everyone knows we’re playing on the same team to build the best experience for our customers. When the team has this mindset, it’s easier to develop solutions together with a focus on communication and excellence.
It’s important to ensure that everyone knows we’re playing on the same team to build the best experience for our customers.
What advice would you offer to other companies looking to build alignment between the two teams?
Companies can encourage collaborative events during which designers and developers plan and refine their demands together. They can also facilitate pair work on tests with constant follow-up, offer continuous feedback so that the team can create a safe space to improve communication, and hand off work in a way that is planned with input from both teams. Companies must find the best way for both designers and engineers to build with autonomy.
