Why Design and Data Folks Need to Work Together

When Design and Data Teams Work in Silos, Products Pay the Price

We often hear the famous saying, "form follows function," in projects. For our purposes here, let's think of "form" as the design and user interface, and "function" as the user experience and the nitty-gritty data structure underneath.

To get the "function" right, you absolutely need to blend good User Experience thinking with a clear view of the database or data architecture. Pause and answer these questions:

• Do you have individuals or teams that fall under these roles:
  
  • Data Management and Analytics Teams
  • Data Architects 
  • Database Developers
  • Business Intelligence Analysts 
  • Data Scientists
• Are they crucial to your product or future product?
• Are they already communicating with the product team, specifically the designers?

If you answered yes to all three of these and the team is already talking early and often—UX and data experts—then great! You might find this discussion obvious. But stick around; we'd still love to hear your thoughts.

Four Collaboration Gaps That Slow Down Product Development

When the teams aren’t talking here are some common snags we run into:

1. People only apply "Form follows function" to design teams. UX is the function and UI is the form, plain and simple. Development and data experts don't get involved until the design is already finished.
2. A design team is brought in to create an aspirational design. Which often leads to teams dreaming up super cool designs that end up having to be drastically scaled back to what's actually possible. It's creativity first, practicality second.
3. The data being shared is often only the output, and the database is scheduled for an overhaul, but no one really knows what the new architecture will look like.
4. Some teams are hesitant to share details about how their data is populated. Maybe it's tough to explain to outsiders, or maybe they're worried about being judged by a consulting partner.

In the situation of points 1 or 2, you end up with a design concept instead of a final product that can actually be built. If the goal of early design work is to speed things up, working from just a concept makes it hard to spot the real-world limitations.

Point 3 shows progress, but you need solid communication about design and development choices. Designers won't always just accept "it's impossible" as an answer. It's super helpful to give them detailed clarity on why something is complicated or infeasible and what the real impact is. When designers understand the internal workings better, it helps them visualize operations and be more empathetic toward the development team's struggles.

Point 4 is common in consulting. Teams can be nervous about sharing internal specifics with outsiders. A design consultant should always aim to be a collaborative partner. While explaining data takes time, or can get too technical, bringing design partners up to speed earlier leads to better results for everyone. Design teams can help by running workshops with key people to show the data structure in a way that's easy to understand and not too technical.

The fix for all these issues is simple: get the design and data teams talking early and keep the conversation going.

So, let's update Louis Sullivan’s idea of "Form follows function" for today's team dynamics. Which is where his protégé, Frank Lloyd Wright, took it a step further: "form and function are one." That should be the main goal for every product team. By connecting Product/Experience designers with the people who really know the old data (SMEs) or dedicated data experts, we can actually build a product that works great and is easy to use.

Three Ways to Get Design and Data Teams Building Together

1. Do Walkthroughs of Current Data Structures and Talk to Data Experts:
   
   • Like in scenario 4, this helps everyone understand the existing system, where the data comes from, and lets you map out data flows and what data the end-user can actually access.
2. Get Product Designers Using Object-Oriented User Experience (OOUX):
   
   • OOUX, made popular by Sophia Prater in the early 2010s, is a method for creating a logical structure, especially in complex systems. It involves mapping out "objects" and how they relate, then diving into what makes up each object and how users interact with them. This process naturally forces a conversation about object relationships.
3. Work Together to Define and Refine Objects:
   
   • Bring in data and SME experts to confirm, tweak, or just better understand the objects you've created. A nice bonus here is that you'll naturally capture business requirements, and possibly technical ones too.

The only way to ensure we build usable products that offer awesome experiences is by making sure data experts and product teams are working side-by-side.