[Sigia-l] Designers and Developers

[Boniface Lau]

> From: Listera
>  
> Boniface Lau:
> 
> >> If you are asking me, just two: Designers and Developers.
> > 
> > Mind you, to produce something of good quality, a person has be good
> > in both the design and implementation of the thing being responsible
> > for. 
> 
> Designers won't have to build/implement, developers won't have to
> design. So I don't see where the problem is. Designers have to
> understand the technical ramifications of their design choices.

And how do you suppose a person acquires the understanding of
technical ramifications?

It comes from the knowledge and experience of implementing things.

For people not good at implementation, their so called understanding
is only skin deep.


> 
> > The emphasis on the separation between "Designers" and
> > "Developers" will likely lead to less than optimal products.
> 
> Just the opposite: those who are actually trained/focused on design
> will end up doing design and those who know how to write/manage code
> will do so. The separation optimizes the expertise of the executors.
> I just don't see the efficacy of asking developers to get involved
> in design/usability/etc *when* there are designers to do just that.

Such involvement helps a project to avoid costly mistakes that won't
be discovered until long after when a work product is being thrown
over the wall. The larger or more complicated is a project, the more
important is such involvement.


> 
> >> So my dream is to see the Design and Development sides to
> >> consolidate into two distinct entities bridged by the functional
> >> prototype.
> > 
> > And that prototype will probably become the "wall" that one group
> > throw things over to the other.
> 
> Why?

Because organization structure is a key factor affecting people
behavior. To promote integration, add communication channels. To form
islands, reduce channels.


Boniface