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<h1 id="being-more-efficient-as-a-designer-and-developer">Being More Efficient as a Designer and Developer</h1>
<p>2019-09-28</p>
<p><em>I recently began working on a small side project</em> (a marketing site / blog for an upcoming UX book I’m writing, but I have nothing to promote yet - sorry) and found myself circling around different static site generators (SSG) in the initial design concepts. The thought of learning an entirely new blogging platform was inspiring and seemed like a good excuse to expand my skillset.</p>
<p>Although I’ve used 11ty and Hugo in the past for client work, this personal website runs on Jekyll. I’m very familiar with Jekyll and can push out a point-of-concept site in a flash with little-to-no effort. So, why was I looking to jump into a SSG I hadn’t used before? </p>
<p>And that got me thinking… <strong>Why am I moving away from being efficient?</strong></p>
<h2 id="before-we-begin">Before we begin…</h2>
<p>I should preface everything else I’m going to mention in this post with this: <em>learning new stuff is awesome</em>. You should expand your knowledge as much as you can, no matter what industry you find yourself in. I’ve found it to be a great catalyst for boosting my passion in design and development.</p>
<p>Okay, I’ve made it clear that learning is important to the growth of your career - so please keep that in mind before you read my next statement:</p>
<p><strong>Just use what you already know.</strong></p>
<p>By using your current experience (maybe even expertise) with a design system, CSS framework, blogging platform, programming language, etc. you can get something <em>built</em>. Not to mention you can get that thing built in a <em>fraction of the time</em>. After all, building things is kind of the point of being a designer (or developer), right?</p>
<p>My current side project may be a slight edge case in this regard. Since it’s a personal “dev” website, most of the tech stack choices comes down to personal preference - not client requirements. But I believe my point still remains: you shouldn’t reach for something new and shiny <em>just because</em> it’s new and shiny.</p>
<h2 id="some-vague-examples">Some vague examples</h2>
<p>It might be easier to understand what I mean by using some possible real-world examples:</p>
<table>
<thead>
<tr>
<th>Problem</th>
<th>New Way</th>
<th>Efficient Way</th>
</tr>
</thead>
<tbody>
<tr>
<td>A local bakery needs product and e-cart functionality</td>
<td>Learn a new custom ecommerce platform</td>
<td>Use a popular pre-existing library you’re familiar with</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Create an add-on blog for a medical clinic</td>
<td>Try a custom built static site generator and hook in a git-based CMS</td>
<td>Spin up a quick WordPress site and hand-off</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>UI mockups for a workout iOS app</td>
<td>Test out the newest design tool just released</td>
<td>Use your go-to default design tool you (Sketch, Figma, etc)</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<p>I know all of this is very much “common sense”, but you would be surprised how often we reach out for the latest and greatest tools (we are creative problem-solvers, after-all). If a current project allots you the time to learn a new skillset alongside outputting a quality product - then more power to you. In my experience that’s a rare luxury, so my advice is to focus on shipping quality work (whether that’s code, design, analytics, content, etc) instead of getting caught up in the “new and shiny”.</p>
<h2 id="but-wait-how-when-do-i-learn-new-things">But wait, how / when do I learn new things?</h2>
<p>It isn’t exactly ground breaking to state that you should keep things simple as a developer. There are probably hundreds of posts on the web advocating for the exact same thing - which is good. At the same time, we as designers and developers need to avoid stagnation - something that can happen all too easily.</p>
<p>So how do we learn new things? This is a hard thing to answer. Really, the best response would be: <strong>it depends on the designer / developer</strong>. I know, <em>what a cop-out</em>. Unfortunately, it’s true. There is no one solution to learning anything new.</p>
<p>The best I can do is offer up some possible options:</p>
<ul>
<li><p>Learn outside of work</p>
<ul>
<li>Reading / listening to a technical book on your commute or before bed</li>
<li>Take an online course you can work on after hours</li>
</ul></li>
<li><p>Contribute to an open source project that you aren’t familiar with but are interested in</p>
<ul>
<li>Even tiny contributions go a long way, don’t doubt yourself so much</li>
</ul></li>
<li><p>Ask your current company (if not a freelancer that is) to learn on their time</p>
<ul>
<li>It’s a valid argument that your company should have vested interest in you becoming a better developer / designer</li>
</ul></li>
</ul>
<h2 id="easier-said-than-done">Easier said than done</h2>
<p>Sometimes, even the suggestions above don’t work for certain individuals. Life is hectic and other important things can pop-up taking precedence. Don’t let it get you down - there are more important things in life than mastering the newest framework that released 25 minutes ago.</p>
<p>My motto is to keep shipping quality products that you actually give a shit about. Otherwise it doesn’t matter how “new” it is.</p>
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