Embedded in culture
Mar 9 2024 · Software Engineering
Something I read a long time ago that comes to mind when I think about engineering team culture is this interview around design at Apple. Specifically, the myth around Apple having the best designers:
I think the biggest misconception is this belief that the reason Apple products turn out to be designed better, and have a better user experience, or are sexier, or whatever … is that they have the best design team in the world, or the best process in the world…
It’s actually the engineering culture, and the way the organization is structured to appreciate and support design. Everybody there is thinking about UX and design, not just the designers. And that’s what makes everything about the product so much better … much more than any individual designer or design team.
[Aside: looking back a bit, it’s worth noting that, more-so in 2014 than now, Apple’s products were viewed as being far superior in design to competitors. Many people I worked with pointed to how something looked or functioned on a Mac or iPhone as the ideal and there was a desire to replicate that aesthetic and experience. Now, in 2024, Apple is still known for good design, but I don’t think they have the same monopoly that they did a decade ago.]
What resonates here is how the concern (for a better user experience, better product, etc.) needs to be embedded within the culture of the team and it’s not something can be be strictly delegated to a certain individual, role or team (and then “thrown over the wall”).
Of course this is maybe not too surprising, within software engineering itself there’s been a need/desire/push to diffuse concerns around operations, security, testing, etc. (and what actually got me thinking about this was actually the interplay between application engineers and security engineers, where application engineers can’t simply “hand off” security concerns).
