Walking with Developers

ILI, 30/October 2012Track A - Rethinking Technology

Session A102

Stephanie TaylorCritical Eye Communications

criticalstepht@gmail.com

How to turn developers from this -

To this…

What you DON’T need -

• A technical background• An ability to write code• A knowledge of every possible technology that

could be used

What you DO need -

• An ability to clearly describe what you want something to DO

Start with a workflow

• Think through & describe the steps of how something should work

Then draw up your requirements

• Make a list of what you need the technology to do

• Note any specific standards the technology will need

• Note any systems or other technologies the new technology needs to interact with

• Any other important things it needs to do

Let everyone do what they do best

• You know best what you want to be able to do with a tool

• Let the developer(s) sort out exactly how this is done – that is not your problem

Talk The Same Language

• Be very clear about what you both mean.

Be Flexible

• You don’t have to understand all the technical details, you just need to be able to understand how something might impact on your workflows to make a decision.

• Keep talking- it’s about teamwork.

The Hardest Things Of All

• It’s your call in the eternal time versus perfection battle

• Let the developers get on with it – trust their expertise

And don’t forget…

• Development teams need regular supplies of kittens, coffee, cake & beer

Thankyou!

Image Credits

• Slide 2 - http://www.flickr.com/people/infomofo/• Slide 4 –

http://www.flickr.com/people/gamerchick02/• Slides 5, 6, 8, 9, 10 & 11 –

http://www.flickr.com/people/laurie_pink/• Slide 12 -

http://www.flickr.com/people/tragically_dork/• All images used, with thanks, under CC BY-NC-SA 2.0

http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.0/deed.en