In theory, the current agency model is a good one. Reporting structures are supposed to be in your own field of specialization, but project teams you work with day to day are formed with people from a cross-section of disciplines. It is important to recognize that this structure is not only for a division of labor. It is also wise to put people with different perspectives into the process, and even better when they all get a fair chance to give their input.
For the business owner, stakeholder, or marketer who makes critical decisions in promoting a business, getting the website right is crucial. Digital media centered on a main brand website dominates marketing, and this is not going to slow down any time soon. Whether you are doing it yourself, or you are on the website team for internal development, or advising an external team of developers, the responsibility to your users’ experience is yours.
You do not need to learn how to code to truly contribute to a website. However, no matter what your role, you do have a responsibility to understand and respect all of the aspects of your web design and development process.
The friction between the people who need websites and the people who make websites is made worse by over-specialization. It can be difficult for people to understand tasks beyond their immediate control without some cross-training. It is up to each team member to develop a broader understanding, and to share their knowledge with others.
Blind spots
You can never know someone’s entire background. With such diversity in education, interests, discipline, and values, it can require a lot of patience (and grace) when we are surprised by someone else’s blind spots. And it is humbling when we discover our own.
I worked with an account manager at a creative agency who claimed she had never heard of Leonardo da Vinci. I once asked a barista to wash an apple I had bought next door and he asked me, “…you mean, like with soap?” And I have spoken with management-level people with the term UX in their title who don’t know what CSS is. My brother has found basic multiplication errors in vendor invoices that were costing his company thousands of dollars. Of course, I have blind spots, too. I was hired for a luxury eyewear brand, and I had to be told by my boss who Karl Lagerfeld was. Embarrassing.
Iron sharpens iron
Whether we are in those moments of blindness, or see them in others, if we shy away from those teachable moments, we may well be doing ourselves and others a disservice. That is why the three principles I abide by in my work are: Skepticism, Candor and Rigor.
If I am on the side of not knowing, I am confronted with a choice. Do I admit my shortcoming, and seek to improve or find the support I need, or do I try to conceal it? While no one wants to appear weak or inadequate, there are ways to handle these situations with professionalism.
For example, I do not have a good mind for long-form coding. I burn out very quickly. I can unpick most of a page of front-end code, but I’m better with HTML and CSS than Javascript. I know the box model, how styles cascade, and a few other things. However, since my experience has been mostly in marketing websites, I have not had much experience with intensive functionality, queries, or animation. But I have made it my business to know some of what React and jQuery can do and when and why to use a CMS.
When I simply cannot do the task, however, and there’s no time to learn, I am candid about it: “that’s not my area of expertise.” But if possible, I do not leave it at that. I know enough about what I don’t know to suggest something or someone who might: “I have seen this done with jQuery,” or, “I think that we can only do X with CSS. It will take JavaScript to do Y and Z.” In this way, albeit limited, I help point others toward the solution, even though I may not be the one to do the work or get the credit.
When I run across a conspicuous gap in someone else’s knowledge, and it’s not going to start a forest fire, I gently make a suggestion, “I have never seen it work like that,” or “I believe that it’s not X, but rather Y.” Often, I am wrong, or we simply have two different ways of achieving the same goal. So it goes from a teaching to a learning opportunity. Sometimes, together, we uncover a deeper issue or systemic flaw. This can lead to great insights. Isaac Asimov said it best: “The most exciting phrase to hear… the one that heralds new discoveries, is not ‘Eureka! ‘ but rather, ‘That’s funny…'”
Less mass, more lean
Too often in some company cultures, this desire to solve problems and fix gaps in knowledge is deprecated or ignored. The excuse is usually, “there’s no need,” or “there’s no time.” In my view, those are code for, “I don’t know” or “I don’t care.” To be fair, sometimes, these are systemic flaws. Mass Production still looms large in business theory, and it is infamous for sacrificing quality “just to keep the line moving.” The discipline of identifying and addressing mistakes is eschewed, and the result is that flaws aggregate at the end of the process, create compound problems, and exacerbate bad habits. Even Agile teams who hold daily standups can be guilty of this passing of the buck. Just because you’re meeting doesn’t mean you’re solving anything.
On the other hand, Lean Production encourages coming together as a team to identify, evaluate and solving problems as they arise in order to eliminate waste. Rather than recurring meetings (which are often unnecessary), a specific meeting is called to solve a specific problem. This fosters team spirit by relying on listening to various perspectives to reach solutions quickly and completely. This mitigates the temptation to ignore or hide issues or attempt to put all of the responsibility on someone else. Shared responsibility and shared input mean shared success.
Come together
Lean principles hold true for many types of organizations, but digital development teams have their own specific applications. People with different perspectives have to rally around a shared plan of action: product manager, project coordinator, account executive, creative director, writer, art director, user experience designer, developer.
Keeping everyone together may seem daunting. Fortunately, as with many skills, the methods are many, but the principles are few. I have gathered the best principles and developed a simple method tailored to integrated digital development teams. In my book Building Better Sites, you will find invaluable insights into eliminating waste, becoming more effective, and helping your other team members do the same. Get your copy here.
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