In the third episode of Season 2, Maria Grilo (Designer) and Davide Silva (Developer at Subvisual) explore how designers and developers can collaborate to make projects happen as frictionlessly as possible.

They dive into:

• The architect vs. construction worker problem: Why disconnected teams lead to friction, missed expectations, and compromised results, and how to avoid it.
• Opening vs. funneling: How designers explore possibilities while developers converge on realistic solutions, and why both perspectives need to inform each other early.
• Getting developers involved in design: The value of bringing developers into research, design sprints, and ideation to align on feasibility and avoid surprise roadblocks.
• AI tools changing prototyping: How AI enables faster iteration, but why you still need experienced designers and developers to guide decisions and deliver production-ready systems.
• Communication strategies that work: Balancing synchronous meetings with asynchronous updates in remote teams and adapting to project timelines and team needs.
• The handoff shouldn’t be a surprise: Why progressive collaboration beats the “ceremony moment” where designs are handed off to developers, and the importance of ongoing communication during implementation.
• Managing disagreements and finding middle ground: How to handle friction between design vision and development constraints while ensuring everyone feels heard.
• Context is everything: Why shared understanding across the entire team prevents misaligned priorities and ensures everyone is working toward the same goals.