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What Should Happen After Design Handoff
It’s time for design quality assurance (QA)
Have you ever handed off designs to development only to see the demo a few weeks later look a bit off?
I’ve personally noticed subtle differences between my designs and the actual implementation. Perhaps text is spelled in Capital Case instead of Sentence case, or the spacing between certain elements is off.
I have to take note of the differences and work with the developers to fix the errors or improve the implementation. No big deal, right?
However, the feature has already been demoed to the team where other members, including my team lead and director, might have noticed these details as well.
I hate it when this happens.
But this has taught me an important lesson to always conduct design quality assurance (QA) after I handoff my designs.
Think about it
Developers debug their code to ensure it runs properly.
Designers conduct design critiques to ensure their designs make sense and align with design systems.
Writers edit and proofread their copy before publishing to correct grammar and spelling mistakes.
But what is the activity for ensuring that developed features match the intended designs?
Introducing design QA: Desk checks
Desk checks are an informal manual activity for software developers to review each others’ code to spot defects and verify algorithm logic before shipping.
In agile, continuous feedback plays a big role in helping teams streamline work and respond to change. With desk checks, teams are able to capture UX and interaction errors, as well as fix implementation details.
The term “desk check” comes from getting up and walking over to another person’s desk (back when people actually worked in offices).
Nowadays, it’s as simple as getting on a Zoom call with your teammates and walking…
