How Traveloka’s design team communicates with developers

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When you’re designing and developing a software product, here’s how things usually go. When the design draft is finished, the designer puts it through usability testing. Once it passes that test, the designer passes the design specs to the developer. The developer then writes a sequence of code based on the specs, such as color, size, and distance to the flow of interaction.

Two sprints later, the product’s latest version is released.

That process, commonly called design handoffs, can run so well that interaction between designer and developer is limited to merely passing tasks from one hand to another. But ongoing collaboration at both the design and implementation stages, which makes room for fresh viewpoints, should be an integral part of the team’s culture.

Let’s consider the following two situations:

The first situation: Designer sends design specs to developer. Developer implements the design. Done.

The second situation: The developer is involved in every design stage: from conceptualization, to implementation, up until release.

In the first situation, the collaboration is limited to the designer passing on the baton to the developer. There is no space to give feedback from each point of view. Compare that with the second situation, where a continuous collaboration allows team members to provide feedback, ideas, and inputs appropriate to their skills, as well as providing a shared sense of purpose.

Foster an ongoing collaborative process

I once read a question on a forum, “What are recommended tools to give design to developers?” I smiled as I read one answer: “The best tool? A chair. Go sit with them.”

“That’s true,” I said to myself. Face-to-face interactions are often the most effective, as discussions become more frequent. Both the problem and solution would benefit from a wider range of viewpoints.

Here’s how that process might look. The product manager organizes weekly sprint update sessions, during which both designer and developer share their ideas and concerns. The discussion between designer and developer continues even as they return to their desks, making interaction within the team much tighter.

A few weeks later, the project is ready to enter the quality assurance (QA) team’s testing phase. Both designer and developer are still involved until the final stages.

In this process, the UI designer helps to locate inaccurate design specs, the interaction designer ensures that implementation is aligned with the design concept, the product copywriter and copy editor ensure that the design’s copy is correct, and the developer and QA make sure that all features work well.

Looking at this, I realized how everyone in the team had the same interest: giving users the best experience.

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