Design Process: 15) Build Phase

At this point, you should be ready to enter the “build phase” of the project. This is the official point where there is heavy development going on from the development team, but in all actuality, they should have been working at various points through this process to make everything go more smoothly for them.

But as this is a development-centric topic, you may be asking, “What does this have to do with design?”

Despite writing all of the documentation and preparation, a everyone is needed during the build phase to make sure to answer questions and give guidance to the development team whenever necessary. After all, their success is due to everyone’s hard work up until this point, and their failures makes all the hard work look amateur alongside them.

Everyone should sit-in on the development meetings when they can. Listen to the topics they are speaking about and see if there is anything mentioned that is contrary to what you envisioned. 

To ensure the best possible outcome, everyone should be available to answer questions regarding current development work. Problems that arise are not just the development team’s problems — they are everyone’s problems.

Potential Pitfalls

Having great documentation can alleviate most questions, but being available and understanding what is being developed helps ensure the project meets deadlines and is of high quality. Sometimes there are problems with what is being built, so if the team is aware of what is happening, they can offer a solution more quickly and easily.