Summary
We have all heard the old saying “communication is key” but as the landscape of technology widens so do the options we have for communication tools using that technology. To talk about the challenges and opportunities that our organizations face when solving the communication conundrum, we have invited three people working in three different areas where communication is key for organizations with designers: research insights, workflow management and design systems management. Facilitated by Abby Covert.
Key Insights
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Unified systems are needed to reduce fragmentation in design operations, as many tools exist in isolation.
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Eliminating the translation gap between design and code would greatly improve design ops efficiency.
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Users in collaborative design environments desire control features like approval workflows and private comments, countering the myth of fully open collaboration.
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Collaborative tools have democratized feedback, increasing ownership but also creating noise, making filtering essential.
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Successful collaboration tools support varied user roles beyond designers, tailoring views and functions to needs of engineers, QA, and documentation.
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Tools should both fit existing workflows and gently push teams towards idealized, agile processes.
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Agile requires trust built over time, which is challenged by high employee turnover in tech companies.
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The biggest challenge in collaboration is knowing when to stop iterating and focus on building and delivering.
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Future collaborative tools will integrate design systems with research insights and leverage AI to suggest or automate design decisions.
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Overcoming communication fragmentation requires unifying messaging platforms within organizations to avoid missed connections and miscommunication.
Notable Quotes
"There are too many things all over the place. I would like to use my magic wand for making them one system."
"Tools bring more noise into people's day to day lives. It's really hard to stay involved and still get your own job done."
"Design collaboration is not anarchy in companies. There's always a need for control."
"Having more collaborative tools has opened the feedback loop up to everyone and people really feel ownership."
"People ask not to use the research tools themselves, they want the insights brought to them."
"Agile requires a lot of trust, and teams often don't stay together long enough to build it."
"One tool, one communication system is critical. Having two chat apps is a collaboration killer."
"Knowing when to stop talking and start building is one of the hardest nuts to crack in collaboration."
"In the future, design tools will bring research closer and perhaps AI will empower design decision-making."
"I'd like my collaboration tool to be like the Nest thermostat of my workday, knowing when I'm heads down and when I'm available."
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