Interview to Sara Michelazzo of ThoughtWorks and Alberto Forni of Balsamiq

1. Hi Sara & Alberto can you introduce yourself?

Sara is a designer @ ThoughtWorks and Alberto is a developer @ Balsamiq. It hasn't always been this way. We both went through a career change. Sara was an art conservator and Alberto was a chartered accountant. Making a change takes courage but doing what you really want to be doing is priceless and rewarding. If you are not doing what you want to be doing, what are you doing?

2. Sara, can you tell us more about your experience with ThoughtWorks and the startups you helped during your experience?

ThoughtWorks is a very special organisation, a premium tech consultancy and a community of 5000+ people spread across 41 offices in 14 countries. Our purpose is to revolutionize software design, from creation to delivery, while advocating for positive social change. We work with amazing clients! In only 3 years at ThoughtWorks I worked in 4 countries and in several industries: government, transportation, fashion and finance, just to name a few. What I love the most about ThoughtWorks is that it encourages us to be ourselves and gives us space to grow and experiment. We, as ThoughtWorkers, are part of a global network that allows us to leverage experience and expertise from our colleagues all over the world. For someone like me, that really values software excellence, inclusion, diffuse leadership and continuous learning, it is the place to be. Working for start-ups is a truly empowering experience. I love working close to the founder, building trust with the customers and knowing the product upside-down and back-to-front. Founders like Luke Anear from SafetyCulture and Tom Davis from Solair taught me invaluable lessons.

3. Sara and Alberto you are a couple at work and in life, can you tell us which process you have identified as ideal in order to foster collaboration between designers and developers?

It is more about culture than process. A culture of respect, trust, curiosity and transparency is the fertile ground to achieve collaboration. Culture can be written on the about page, or in a booklet that you give to the new hires, but keep in mind that culture lives within the people in your organisation and spreads through conversations. So hire wisely. Look for people that can grow, deepen, and be role models for that culture. So first things first: people and culture! Second: one team, one goal. Only then, we can talk about tools and processes. The tools and the processes must be shaped by the people and not the other way around. Usually, enforcing a process or a tool in a team that misses the right culture doesn’t work. The tools should be chosen by who uses them and the processes must be co-designed by the people involved. Both processes and tools will evolve as the team matures.During our talk, we will share practical examples of how to nudge your company toward a culture of collaboration.

4. Alberto, can you tell us more about your work experience at Balsamiq?

Balsamiq is a distributed company with people in the US and Europe. We do have an office in Bologna but many of us choose to work from home and enjoy the flexible working hours. We are a cosy restaurant on the Web, very much passionate about what we do and we care a lot about our customers. We are a flat organisation, where you can be a leader/organiser in some projects and a collaborator in others. The founder, Peldi, is a very inspiring leader, he made some interesting choices that are against common tech start-ups beliefs. He has a self-funded company, he didn't sell it when he had the opportunity, he thrives for slow, gradual and sustainable growth.

5. We know that your talk is for designers, developers, product owners and anyone committed to encouraging collaboration can you share with us, based on your experiences, the insights on how to align teams on shared goals?

Too often people in the same team get carried away by personal goals like getting a promotion, winning an award, creating shiny stuff for their portfolios or trying the latest technology. We say "One team, one goal". Everybody in the team must know the goal by heart. Everyone should align their actions toward that goal every day. So make it visible and make it loud. Avoid long lists of competing priorities, define one goal for every team. Usually, great goals are about serving your users. Remember: your users are the reason why your company exists. It is not about you, it is about them. When you instil questions like: “how can you serve your users best considering the constraints you have (time, skills, budget)?” there is less room for egos and more room for creativity and collaboration.

6. You, both, have worked abroad, can you tell us some interesting/different working facts?

It’s hard to generalise but, in Australia and the UK is quite normal for employees to debate topics and share opinions with folks higher up in the organisation's hierarchy. Leaders expect more than execution, they appreciate people who can bring different points of views to the table and make them change their mind. For example, if someone tells you to do something, asking why is usually appreciated. Nobody should work without knowing the purpose and the impact of their work. Asking good questions is something worth learning! Overwork is not a positive badge of honour, it is simply considered not sustainable.Leaders give more responsibility to young people who demonstrate attitude and skills, instead of trying to protect them.

Sara and Alberto will be speakers at the Intersection conference that will take place in Milan on October 1 and 2, if you are interested in attending you can buy tickets at the following link: https://www.eventbrite.it/e/biglietti-intersectionux-development-44183223210