Product designers are clashing with developers, and it’s ugly

There are solutions, though, and that market is growing

Developers and designers don’t always get along. Image by author

Imagine you’re responsible for implementing an app that shows you swanky cafés in your city. Dave, your product designer, has created a beautiful wireframe, and he wants the prototype to be ready within three weeks.

You know how Dave ticks, and you know how this type of request usually ends. With a tight timeline and a few sketchy instructions to go with, you’re definitely not going to impress him. But hey, this is your job, so you do your best anyway.

Three weeks later, you go back to Dave with the finished prototype.

And he’s furious.

According to him, you totally ignored his team’s instructions. You didn’t implement the exact pixels they specified, you didn’t get the color shades perfectly right, and — oh — where are all the special effects?

Now you’re mad at Dave and his team, too. During those three weeks, they didn’t check in with you at all.

And now, after weeks of you pushing overnight shifts to get the prototype shipped on time, all Dave wants to see is your manager so he has someone better to yell at.