Working in the field of User Experience is rarely working alone. It is a highly collaborative environment and this means that oftentimes developers and designers must work together.

There was a time when designers would just mock up designs and “throw the designs over the wall” to the the developers who would then put the designs in to code. This led to a lot of tension; mostly because there was little communication. Now I find that better designs come as a result of communication across disciplines and areas of expertise.

I love talking with my devs. There are so many benefits of doing so:

• Devs are aware of design decisions on the table,  they feel more involved
• They can point out potential technical issues and constraints
• They often have great suggestions
• It’s their product too, they will have more pride in their work if they are involved in the process, not just pulled in at the tail end
• Talking together builds camaraderie and and stronger teams
• They can fill in knowledge gaps or holes you might have

Basically, early communication between UX designers and developers gets everyone on the same page. And let’s face it, we work with these people the majority of the day. It makes for a better work environment if you get along with your co-workers.

So I encourage you to talk with your developers, several times a day if you can. Do this to build stronger relationships, learn from each other and have buy-in from all members of the team so you can build better products.