A travel letter from Denmark
With great experiences from the last residency and hunger for another, Team Builders sent three more team members to visit Private Sales Denmark.
For two weeks in February, Maria Eilertsen, Ryan Diefenbach and Thorstein Thorrud paused their tasks in Builders to collaborate with Teitur Djurhuus Poulsen, Alejandra Mesa Risvang, Michal Grzymski and the others in Private Sales Denmark.
Their main focus was to redress applications with the new identity. Maria explains how they helped kickstart the process of updating to the newest Core version, hoping it helped break down the task:
– We wrote a PoC to suggest how we could improve their solutions with the newest Builders Core. They asked critical questions in return, which led to alternative solutions. I think the value of the upgrade became clear in the solutions we wrote together, she explains.
Teitur, who is the tech lead in Private Sales Denmark, says they better understand Builders' thinking behind the components now. Maria also highlights the valuable discussions and exchange of knowledge:
– Builders isn't the police of design and code. Openness from both sides is key during a visit like this, and the team welcomed us. We had great conversations on what we could improve and how, she concludes.
It's always nice to get insights from Builders. It gives us a different perspective and may lead to good ideas and improvements that we haven't thought of
Why residencies?
It's a win-win situation that both parties gain something from. Plus, it strengthens our collaboration in the long run
As we all know, the only way to keep a product valuable and relevant is by talking with the people who use it. The design system is no exception.
As Team Builders maintain Gjensidige's design system, their way of working differs from that of other teams. For instance, they don't build web apps that make use of Core components today. This means they don't get to be the users of their own services.
– We learn a lot from working hands-on with our components in different contexts. By collaborating with those who use our solutions, we gather loads of knowledge back to our team. This helps us assess the user experience for both designers and developers. It also gives us clues about how we can improve it, says Maria.
Head of development in Team Builders, Cecilie Johansen, says they visit teams with two goals in mind:
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Learning how product teams use the design system as part of their solutions and workflow
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Helping product teams understand and use the design system
Builders want to help product teams get to know the component library better and suggest how they may use it to solve their needs. Also, when the library doesn't cover the need well enough, they help teams expand or improve Core. However, it is important to them that the focus lies where the team needs it:
– Our main contribution is advice on design and code. Teams must keep their autonomy while learning about Gjensidige's shared components, Cecilie explains.
Making the time
Many teams have asked for residencies. Aiming to fit two teams into Q1, Builders asked Sales Denmark how soon they would be able to welcome them. The residency started two weeks later.
Teitur believes the collaboration would be even better with more time to prepare:
– We were in the middle of a sprint to release one of our webshops in production. We couldn't drop everything we had in our hands and we didn't have time to complete the tasks we already worked on.
Maria agrees and adds that they learned a lot about timing. They will bring this with them to improve their next residency.
The sooner we get to plan ahead, the more we will gain from the residency
Being efficient
14 days passed by quickly, but Teitur felt it was enough to give Builders the insight they needed to give feedback and suggest improvements.
– It could depend on the size of the app. A much smaller app might not need as much time.
To make the most of the time, the teams started improving parts of the code while the new designs were being made:
– We were able to improve code that wouldn't be affected by design changes. Introducing Flex, we wrote our way out of the old Grid solution and utilities like Container, Row and Column. This reduced lots of styling and simplified the code quite a lot, Maria explains.
By creating a dedicated branch, they avoided interfering with the team's other priorities. This branch also documented their work, so that the Danish team could continue independently after the residency.
– It was hard to keep our ambitions low enough to complete within two weeks. At the same time, the team must have enough to work on themselves after. Of course, we're always available on Slack, Maria says.
Making it happen
Builders will continue with residencies, aiming to visit one product team per quarter. Cecilie reveals that she has already received requests for residency in Q2. When selecting what teams to visit, there are many factors to consider.
– We wish to give priority to the teams that need it the most. Still, we sometimes must be strategic and choose teams who are working on tasks that fit well with Gjensidige's priorities, she explains.
Teams who wish to welcome Builders in the future may ask their head of development or reach out to Cecilie.
