One of the underlying themes at New Adventures 2019 was the idea of multi-disciplinary teams and designing for everyone. Jessica White gave a brilliant talk about the importance of being cross-functional and gave many examples of how to foster it within a team. One idea I especially liked was for teams that are co-located you can simply move desk. It is one of the benefits of hot-desking, one day you could sit next to a designer then next you could sit next to someone in Finance. It doesn't matter how exactly you do it, as long as you are able to get the different perspectives and understand that everyone's opinion matters. Below are some notes I took while watching Jessica talk about working together in better ways.
The Future is Cross-Functional
Developer, drew slides
Neuroscientist for 6 1/2 years, played with orangutans
Persuaded to go computer route already used python and mat lab
Masters in Computer Science
Started Women in Tech before completing degree
Visited industry meet-ups to see whether to join industry or not, assumption everyone in basements
Running a conference Developer Developer Developer East Midlands
“The story of the culture changer”
Worked at small company, designers and developers worked separately
Waterfall process went round in circles
Change happened
Ideas presented early
Wireframes with explanation, accessibility
Mobile first
Most importantly listened and asked for feedback
Discussion about things read
Moved desk so designers and developers worked next to each other
Can we make that work better when remotely?
Got spec first then design test and dev at same time
Testing up front made it easier to input into design decisions and understand it
More things got to live
More enjoyable
What did I learn?
Backend developer, sit with testers first
Know what is important to a company if you see what testers are checking
Timing and transparency is important
Hatred for acronyms, all mean different things in different contexts
Cohesive language, offer alternatives to how you express yourself
“We are all technologists we just chose to specialise in different subjects”
“People have spent the time to learn what they are interested in, listen to their opinions”
“Everyone are equals and they are experts in their own fields”
Always measure the effect “proof is in the pudding”
If you have someone on the team who is ignoring the facts, maybe it’s just not for them
Less cross functional
More multi disciplined
It’s a culture change, which is the hardest possible change to make
Process is not culture
“We are T-shaped developers, we do testing and development... No it’s just my job”
Tiny acts of rebellion
“Go out, talk to the person next to you even if you’re in a different field