35. Building Bridges: Thriving with Low Maturity Engineering Teams

You may be working with a low-maturity software team.

This week we’re continuing the “From Chaos to Clarity” series with a deep dive into engineering team low-operational maturity.

it can be a real challenge working with an engineering team with inconsistent processes that always expect the UX team to deliver at the last minute.

If you’ve ended up working with an engineering team that doesn’t function as smoothly as you’d like, there is hope.

It’s possible to turn this around and make the best of this situation. There are some things you can try to build stronger relationships with your engineering team and make it work, even if you can’t change the culture of the entire team.

So let’s explore some ways we can tear down these walls and build some bridges and learn to thrive with a low-maturity engineering team.

Topics:
• 03:27 – There are many different maturity models out there
• 04:07 – The five levels of the CMMI maturity model
• 09:21 – High or low maturity indications
• 12:03 – Engineers are brilliant people and they want to build great software
• 13:00 – problems UX designers might run into
• 17:25 – How I’ve applied this in my own work.
• 25:59 – Remember those things from Episode 33
• 26:31 – Add to your stakeholder map
• 27:14 – Collaborate early and often
• 28:05 – Explain the product and process
• 29:57 – Think about design systems or component library
• 31:03 – Use a tool like Storybook.js
• 31:45 – Get advice on components
• 32:13 – Attend Scrum ceremonies
• 33:28 – Recap

Helpful Links:
• Resolving Conflicts Between Designers And Engineers | Smashing Magazine
• Product designers are clashing with developers, and it’s ugly | UX Collective
• The Integration of User Experience into Software Development | UXmatters
• Understanding the Collaboration Difficulties Between UX Designers and Developers in Agile Environments | Purdue University
• CMMI Levels of Capability and Performance | ISACA
• How to increase the UX maturity of Scrum teams | UXDesign.cc

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