Chapter 4
How I Collaborate
Building Bridges, Not Walls
A Collaborative Solution to Our Navigation Challenge
Communicate with Engineers
Setting the Stage for Collaboration
When our project kicked off in May, I immediately established direct communication channels with our engineering team rather than relying solely on our product manager. "What's your preferred way to track design discrepancies?" I asked during our first meeting, prioritizing their workflow preferences. This simple question built the foundation of respect that would prove crucial later.
Vision for Mega Menu
The Vision for Transformation
Weeks into development, I discovered that a mega menu could perfectly address our challenge of showcasing complex game concepts. Our current navigation buried critical elements in secondary pages, but a full-width mega menu could bring these concepts front and center. The co-founders immediately supported the idea during my presentation.
Understanding before Asserting
Active Listening through Resistance
When I shared the concept with our development team, I noticed immediate hesitation. "It would be weird to have a full-width menu dropping down," the lead developer said.
Instead of defending my design, I chose to listen. "Let's implement it based on your understanding," I suggested, "and then we can address any issues together."
Initial Implementation
Build Bridges through Understanding
When I reviewed their initial implementation—a dropdown aligned with the navigation bar instead of full-screen—I understood their concern. They were visualizing a different implementation than I had intended.
Rather than critiquing their work, I used it as a starting point for deeper understanding. I carefully explained the vision while acknowledging their perspective, showing examples of successful implementations and connecting the design to our shared goal of helping users understand our complex world.
Bring Vision to Life
Collaborative Success
The revised navigation had an immediate impact when launched. Users could now grasp our world concepts without diving into multiple pages. What began as my design insight became a shared victory that neither team could have achieved alone.
This experience reinforced my belief in collaborative leadership. By prioritizing understanding before asserting my vision, I transformed potential conflict into collaborative problem-solving, creating a feature that became central to our user experience.
