The Software Alchemist

These are some slightly stream-of-conciousness type notes from the Warmgun conference.

We need to have it. Designers need to trust developers, developers need to trust each other, we’re all one big happy family. Group hugs!

We can all be inclined to be “visionaries”. That is, people who have clear goals and are agressively driven to fulfill them. While it sounds good, this is the kind of mindset that leads to heads butting, distrustful relationships, etc. Which, of course, is self-defeating when trying to get awesome work done.

There are techniques to build trust. This is where things get kind of self-helpy and cringeworthy, but nonetheless:

• Specific, constructive feedback
• Practice “Yes, and …”
• Serve “shit sandwiches” (The good, the bad, and more of the good)
• Positive reviews

Many, many companies now have very competent designers and developers. What’s the new competitive advantage? Strong teams.