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Never use the word 'just' when talking to developers, frequently apparently simple things have huge ramifications Sometimes that is true, and that is so whethe

Never use the word 'just' when talking to developers, frequently apparently simple things have huge ramifications Sometimes that is true, and that is so whether you’re talking about changing a design or changing the underlying implementation, and whether you are talking about web design/development or software development more generally. Having said that, if a designer can’t request and a developer can’t implement trivial changes that really are as simple as shifting something by 3px, most of the times that means at least one of the following is true: 1. The person who implemented the previous version wasn’t very good. 2. The person who implemented the previous version was pressured to take short cuts in order to hit time/money targets and produced work that wasn’t very good. 3. There is some more general problem with the development process that means a designer requesting a trivial change and a developer then making it are expensive when they shouldn’t be. Obviously there could be exceptions where that 3px change has much wider implications for the overall layout, but I don’t think those cases are really what any of us are talking about here.

kybernetikos 13y ago
The point is that if you use the word 'just' you're saying that you already know that the change is trivial. Perhaps it is, perhaps it isn't. Show respect to the person who will implement it by letting them say whether its trivial or not. It's absolutely true that moving a button 3px should be trivial, but it's also true that things are often not as they should be.
- Chris_Newton 13y ago
  I agree with your fundamental point that making the assumptions about what colleagues will have to do can be dangerous, though I would still challenge your earlier suggestion that apparently simple things “frequently” have huge ramifications. It’s sensible and polite to acknowledge the possibility, but if trivial-seeming changes are getting push back more than occasionally, IME that probably indicates a more serious underlying problem with how the project is being built.

kybernetikos 13y ago

The point is that if you use the word 'just' you're saying that you already know that the change is trivial. Perhaps it is, perhaps it isn't. Show respect to the person who will implement it by letting them say whether its trivial or not. It's absolutely true that moving a button 3px should be trivial, but it's also true that things are often not as they should be.

Chris_Newton 13y ago
I agree with your fundamental point that making the assumptions about what colleagues will have to do can be dangerous, though I would still challenge your earlier suggestion that apparently simple things “frequently” have huge ramifications. It’s sensible and polite to acknowledge the possibility, but if trivial-seeming changes are getting push back more than occasionally, IME that probably indicates a more serious underlying problem with how the project is being built.