I love working with developers. Truly.
In my time as a UX designer, I’ve been lucky enough to work with some of the smartest, funniest, quirkiest people I’ve ever met, most of whom were developers. Every developer is different, of course, unique in ways they tend to embrace more so than others. But if you work with developers long enough, you start to see a few commonalities.
The more stand-ups and retros I attend, the more I hear similar statements and responses from developers, regardless of the company size, market sector, or mission. Some ways of thinking, it seems, are universal.
Which brings me to my list.
A while back I started a top 10 list of things I was confident that I, as a designer, would never hear from a developer. In the past few weeks, I’ve had to knock two items off my list, which inspired me to start a new list:
Things I never thought I’d hear from a developer…
but did
1. “I’m just blindly following the designs.”
I honestly stopped moving and stared straight ahead for several seconds when I heard this. Now I know how deer feel when headlights appear.
If you’re wondering why this was surprising, go sit next to a developer for a few days. By and large, developers are not blind followers. Innovative products are built on innovative code, and you don’t produce either unless you analyse and question every requirement and design that comes your way.
It’s worth noting that this particular developer called in sick with the flu the next day, which might explain the odd behaviour.
2. “If the Business wants it this way, we’ll build it this way.”
Similar reaction to #1. Inquisitive and analytical minds often come packaged with a natural disdain for being told to do something just because “someone wants it this way” or “we’ve always done it this way”.
Actually, the developer who made this statement was quite serious, but from a “we’ll show them” point of view. Apparently, one of the best way to show someone an idea is flawed is to show them said idea in all its developed glory.
Based on the circumstances that led to these statements, you could argue that both could stay on my original list, but I’m a stickler, and I did hear them from developers’ mouths, so they’re off.
Now that my list has lost two items, I’ve had to rename it. I’m also no longer confident that it’s ironclad, but I’ll share anyway.
Top 10 8 things I’ll never hear from developers
8. “You’re right, I should do it this way.”
7. “We should have more meetings.”
6. “These personas are going to be invaluable.”
5. “PHP, Java, .NET? I have no opinion on those.”
4. “Accurate data is more of a nice-to-have than a necessity.”
3. “This will make the code a mess, but that’s fine.”
2. “All these changes are in scope.”
And the number one statement I’ll never hear:
1. “Your specs and wireframes are perfect. I don’t have any questions.”
Toby Minton 