So I hear you work in digital and want to be better at what you do?

That’s nice.

How much better? Do you want to be at a comfortable level of expertise or do you want to be seriously good?

Because if you want to be the indispensable kind of good you may be going about it the wrong way.

Firstly, a brief history of digital (which is boring but important to my eventual drawn-out point).

In the beginning

There was one guy (or gal) who would do everything. Somebody needed a website and the conversation with this one guy would go something like this:

Customer: Please mister (or ms.), can you please get a website for my business online?

Tech guy: Sure, what sort of stuff do you want to put on your website?

Customer: blah blah kittens blah blah

Tech guy: blah blah yeah kittens are cool blah blah

Customer blah blah pop blah I like blue blah

Tech guy: blah blah I can do blue blah blah. Ok, I’ll have your website ready in a week.

Customer: Sweet.

…a week later…

Tech guy: Your website is live. Go here to view it: www.bluekittensarethebest.com

Customer: That’s great! Thanks so much. It’s not what I had in mind but it looks good…mind if I forget to pay you for a couple of weeks?

Tech guy: Thanks and sure, I don’t need the money right away anyways; I’m loaded.

One guy did the entire thing. Requirement gathering, design, build, launch and maintenance.

Present day

The digital industry has come a long way since then.

We now have multiple niche professions that didn’t exist back in the day.

For example, there was no such thing as front-end development versus back-end.

If you told a client that you would only build the HTML and CSS for their site and they’d have to organise (pay for) someone else to hook it all up, they would call you stupid (possibly lazy) and move on to the next developer.

Nowadays, we have professions like UX Designer, .NET developer, Senior Analyst and Social Media Strategist. While these professions are largely justified and completely useful (diplomatic save), from the view of the client, nothing much has changed.

The client still wants to approach one person with all their ideas and hopes for their online presence, have it understood and implemented in quick time.

Today that one person is a team of people and, initially, means the Account Management team talks to the strategists, analysts, producers and designers to convey the client’s requirements.

Everyone does their job (hopefully in collaboration with each other) and the milestone design phase is completed.

Then it gets passed on to development. Where developers usually pick logic holes in the solution straight away.

“What happens if this image isn’t the right size?”

“What happens if the client uploads an article in the wrong place?”

“What happens to the layout of this design at less than 1024?”

“Is there ever going to be less than 3 panels in this promo area? Because, if there could be, that’s a problem.”

“Looks good though.”

Designer: “Aah! Thanks a lot developers for being logic-based jerks who make very good (and obvious) points about a system I just spent weeks designing!”

So, the problems go back and forth between design and development and solutions are found but not necessarily good ones for lack of time or resources or coffee or whatever.

So you end up with something that started off looking really good and eventually looks and works ok but not awesome like the client (and you) wanted.

So, what’s the problem ay?

The problem lies in the separation of duties within a digital team.

The problem lies in a designer not knowing enough about how a design will be implemented.

The problem lies in an account manager agreeing to build a world-first piece of technology without understanding the technical challenges or consulting the technologists.

The problem lies in developers not understanding enough about the design decisions and why every pixel is important.

Essentially, the problem is not with the individual professions – it’s with the bridge between the professions.

More and more you are aware of this rickety bridge. You notice these flaws but are somewhat powerless to prevent them because you surely can’t tell a designer how to design or a developer how to develop! You’re just a Producer or a Social Media Strategist! How dare you!

Bollocks.

Sure, I wouldn’t advise you become the technology equivalent of Jehovah’s witnesses and start preaching your knowledge of all things technology to other people who probably know individual parts much better but you can have an influence outside your main role.

You can have an influence by knowing more about…everything. Cue Dr. Evil laugh.

You want to be better at your job?

Get to know other people’s jobs better.

It is likely that many digital professionals, whatever their area of expertise, have tinkered with other professions. But, if you haven’t, start…today.

If you are a designer, start developing.

If you are a developer, start designing.

If you are a producer, have a go at designing or developing.

If you are a business anal-yst, find out more about .NET development.

Now, I understand that some of it might not be overly appealing to you.

For example, I studied Computer Science at uni and have about as much interest in hash tables as I do in getting a tan(not much) but I understand why they exist – I understand their logic and can talk to developers about them.

You want to be a better employee and be better at your job? Then, get to know other people’s.

Talk to your colleagues and better understand why they do what they do. It will help you make smarter decisions in your work and help the people around you pick up your good work after your job is done.

Basically, learn more about what you don’t know and start with the topic you know the least about.

This is how those man-made professional bridges become stronger and eventually, we will barely need bridges – we’ll be able to jump from profession to profession whenever we want.

And there you have it.

Maybe that Tech Guy in the early 90s really did know what he was doing and now laughs mockingly at all of our petty inter-team complications when producing something that he could do all by himself. What an arrogant jerk!

Footnote:

Of course, don’t let me stop you from being a complete gun in your chosen profession and if you really really don’t want to learn more about other professions, I understand – you just better be awesome at whatever you are doing.