Last week, Developer Josh Kemmerling wrote about his perspective on collaborating with designers. As Josh mentioned, he and I recently collaborated on the AMD Collateral Generator project and integrated a solution he proposed early into the project. Hearing each other's expertise at the conceptual phase of the project no doubt contributed to a stronger product for the client. I'm thankful that Josh felt the freedom to speak up and offer his point of view on the project.

It's a shame that in our industry designers and developers are timid to freely express ideas to each other's camps. I believe this timidity results from the overall flow of a project, which generally begins with a discovery phase, then proceeds to brainstorming, then to creative, development, testing and finally deployment. Because the creative portion occurs before the development stage, developers sometimes are not as involved in the project until comps are completed and ready for production. This usually means that the project (up until that point) has been seen by account service, creatives and possibly one developer who may have been involved at the discovery phase of the project, which hardly ever delves into the nuts and bolts of execution methods.



What I believe should occur, whether dictated by a company’s processes or not, is full-on, two-way communication between the creative(s) and developer(s) assigned to that project during the brainstorming and creative phases. While I believe strongly that a creative needs to have a firm understanding of web technologies, they must be willing to hear the expertise of their development team and facilitate in creating an environment of freely expressing ideas. 



Developers and creatives must continue to hone their skill-sets and work on building trust in each other's expertise. Beyond this, I believe it's the responsibility of both parties to have their finger on the pulse of the latest web technologies and trends. This means there might be times when a creative will have learned of a new technology, process or technique that the developer hasn't learned yet — and the creative should feel free to pass on that knowledge. In such a situation, it's imperative for the developer to be open to hearing this from a creative and not feel like the designer is stepping onto their own turf (and vice versa). 



Communication is vital and one of the most important ingredients to the success of any project, especially between a developer and a designer. A free exchange of ideas must take place at the onset of a project. We can't afford to work in silos. Our clients are counting on the best we can produce and that comes from collaboration and freedom of expression.