'Walking with Developers' a short presentation on working with developers in the library & information sector.

1. Walking with Developers
ILI, 30/October 2012
Track A - Rethinking Technology
Session A102
Stephanie Taylor
Critical Eye Communications
criticalstepht@gmail.com

2. How to turn developers from this -

3. To this…

4. What you DON’T need -
• A technical background
• An ability to write code
• A knowledge of every possible technology that
could be used

5. What you DO need -
• An ability to clearly describe what you want
something to DO

6. Start with a workflow
• Think through & describe the steps of how
something should work

7. Then draw up your requirements
• Make a list of what you need the technology
to do
• Note any specific standards the technology
will need
• Note any systems or other technologies the
new technology needs to interact with
• Any other important things it needs to do

8. Let everyone do what they do best
• You know best what you want to be able to do
with a tool
• Let the developer(s) sort out exactly how this
is done – that is not your problem

9. Talk The Same Language
• Be very clear about what you both mean.

10. Be Flexible
• You don’t have to understand all the technical
details, you just need to be able to understand
how something might impact on your
workflows to make a decision.
• Keep talking- it’s about teamwork.

11. The Hardest Things Of All
• It’s your call in the eternal time versus
perfection battle
• Let the developers get on with it – trust their
expertise

12. And don’t forget…
• Development teams need regular supplies of
kittens, coffee, cake & beer
Thankyou!

13. Image Credits
• Slide 2 - http://www.flickr.com/people/infomofo/
• Slide 4 – http://www.flickr.com/people/gamerchick02/
• Slides 5, 6, 8, 9, 10 & 11 –
http://www.flickr.com/people/laurie_pink/
• Slide 12 -
http://www.flickr.com/people/tragically_dork/
• All images used, with thanks, under CC BY-NC-SA 2.0
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-
sa/2.0/deed.en