Building a digital product is hard. Whether you’re a product designer, a product manager, or an engineer, we all play a significant role in the user experience. And perhaps, one of the biggest challenges we face is building great relationships and communication channels within our teams.

Over the past few years, I’ve encountered countless posts and reads on the gap between product designers and engineers. Somehow it has become evident to our industry that this gap is growing, and it is a problem affecting our product development process. New roles, like the Design Engineer, have emerged trying to bridge the gap and get us to communicate more often with one another.

While this problem is true for some teams, I’ve had the experience of working with designers and engineers that communicate and build great products. Design and feasibility decisions are made in conjunction, and the outcomes are shown as a reflection of great team ownership and collaboration.

What is the secret behind great design and engineer collaborations?

The more I heard about this problem, the more I wanted to dig deeper and understand what caused it and how teams are solving it. After watching colleagues work, reading more about engineering processes, and learning from the overall practice, I realized that engineers and designers that collaborate effortlessly are the ones that share the same core principles that fundamentally define their processes. Designers and engineers are not that different, after all. Their way of approaching a problem is similar, and there is a shared understanding of the whys, not just the whats.

What are some of the core fundamental thinking principles that designers and engineers share?

Every problem is unique, so they don’t presume a solution.

At the heart of their professions, designers and engineers are problem solvers. They rely on tested processes but can quickly adapt and use pattern recognition to come up with ideas.

Usually, when a problem is presented, many assumptions and possible solutions have been made by different stakeholders. Wise designers and engineers move backward to investigate the origin that caused the problem and dig deeper into those causes, trying to find ways to address the true user needs effectively.

They also know that almost every problem is larger than it initially appears, and the scope of the work will grow on its own, so it’s better to look at the bigger picture at the beginning, knowing that the team can reduce the scope later.

The heart of their process is problem-solving.

Engineers and designers agree that the most important part of the process is focusing on the problem. The goal is not to include lines of code, mathematical calculations, or Figma prototypes. The goal is the solution for the problem, regardless of how they got there.

Great designers and developers focus on the problem and embrace a process that involves understanding that there is always a trade-off — quality vs. cost, speed vs. accuracy, time vs. quality. At the end of the day, great products emerge from optimizing among these alternatives and finding the right balance between trade-offs.

The components rule the system.

Strong collaboration comes from understanding that every single piece or component is there for a reason. Every element plays a crucial role in keeping the system running, even the smallest ones. Smart engineers and designers keep that in mind when adding new pieces to their products and align on why these should be included in the first place.

They also know to be careful when asking a component to do more than one thing. At a high level, this can be desirable to optimize cost and time, but letting a piece serve multiple purposes can be disastrous and requires a high level of skill from the user. For example, a button that saves an item on your favorites list and completes a payment can be confusing. That’s why it is better to design and build each part to serve its purpose.

They think systematically.

Both designers and engineers apply their foundational thinking across all aspects and touchpoints of the problem. That means they think about the whole system and ensure that every single part is there for a reason. While it may feel easier to focus on a piece or feature, they are always taking a step back, studying how a new part will affect the overall system.

At the end of the day, they understand that the system must be analyzed as a whole, but each part also deserves its own analysis. Each component behaves in relationship with the rest of the system and its connections.

Work and communicate on the why, not just the what.

When decisions are made, there are reasons behind them. Those decisions are important and were decided for a reason, so articulating the intent is key to great design and engineer collaborations. At the same time, they find a way to preserve critical decisions while exploring new possibilities, allowing new team members to drive initiatives while keeping the overall pace in the right direction.

In terms of communication, translating complex terminology to words that the relevant audience can understand is as important as the outcome. How can teams be aligned if the members inside are not speaking the same language? This may feel like a waste of time, but wise designers and engineers understand the importance of doing this early on.

While some of these principles may seem basic or obvious, taking the time to learn and embrace them can feel crunched when trying to build a product on a tight timeline. But doing so early on can have a huge impact on the outcome of the product and increase the chance for a successful launch.

Want to read more about this topic? Here are some interesting reads I’ve found useful.