Developers Often Work in a Vacuum 

Developers typically work from requirements and design files notoriously thrown over the wall at them (which they may not have ever seen before). Developers use dev-centric tools (e.g., Jira) to work on dev-centric tasks that merely link to unfamiliar design documentation. Developers then are left on their own to fill in the blanks and build to the best of their abilities.

This is standard practice. 

Predictable, Subpar Results 

Siloed processes leave little room for essential “in the trenches” collaboration that make digital products exceptional. Without close cooperation with other key disciplines, in this case user experience (UX) pros, inevitable issues that arise in development are interpreted and solved by developers alone (who almost never have UX, design, or content skills). Often, the end product doesn’t fully match either the design or specified UI behaviors. 

Product experience suffers. Nobody is happy. 

Walking Side by Side 

There is a better way. Teams creating the best digital products bring multiple disciplines together—and keep them together—from definition to launch. They follow essential guidelines: 

• Requirements are Authored Together — Developers and UX professionals define and author them together.
• Developers Review Early Design — Developers give early input during the wireframe and design process.
• UX Pros Enhance Stories — A UX pro authors everything associated with user interaction and connects stories to design deliverables.
• The Whole Team Reviews Everything — The whole team walks methodically through final design files and requirements before development.
• UX Pros Join Ceremonies — Whatever the flavor of Agile, a UX pro joins all stand-ups, retrospectives, and sprint planning.
• UX Pros Bolster Quality Assurance Testing — QA is not just for testers. A UX representative participates.
• UX Gets Sign-Off — A UX pro signs off on all completed features. They are, after all, responsible for usability.

Making Digital Product Magic, Together 

True magic happens in implementation. You can make user-friendly products that people love. And the only way to make it happen is together, the whole way through.