I was asked (by this fella on Twitter) a question about design patterns. It has an interesting twist though, related to hiring, which I hope makes for a good poll.
[poll id=”57″]
I’ll let this run for a week or two. Then (probably) instead of writing a new post with the results, I’ll update this one with the results. Feel free to comment with the reasoning for your vote.
Results!
At the time of this update (September 2017), the poll has been up for about 6 weeks.
61% of folks said they would be more likely to want a job somewhere that were actively using (or working toward) a pattern library.
That’s a strong number I’d say! Especially when 32% of folks responded that they don’t care. So for 93% of folks, they either are incentivized to work for you because of a pattern library or don’t mind. So is a pattern library good not only for your codebase and business, for attracting talent as well.
Only 7% of folks would be less likely to want to work there. Presumably, that’s either because they enjoy that kind of work and it’s already done, or find it limiting.
Read the comments below for some interesting further thoughts.
Two of them are right for me. It doesn’t really matter if they’re using one or not (it’s not going to stop me from applying) but the fact that they’re moving in that direction shows the company understand the benefits of pattern library then they are in the same mindset so would be a better fit.
It’s great to see a company develop a pattern library and/or a style guide for their site or products.
It speaks well for their culture — to my mind, they would see the value of consistency and would be more likely to take good UI/UX seriously. That’s in direct contrast to the “you there, designer/developer…make it pretty, fast…don’t care how” cultures that are still widespread.
Voted for less likely because I prefer building pattern libraries to using them, so I’d rather get there right as they’re beginning to plan one out :)
If a company isn’t using or working towards a pattern library, this may be an indication that they don’t plan on using one at all, so you might not have the chance to build one.
Big projects to develop pattern libraries make me nervous unless the shop already has an established behavior of user-centric thinking. There’s a tradeoff right? The point of designing an interface is to help users complete tasks. Establish patterns can help designs come together faster and make development more efficient, it’s true. But users will tolerate quite a bit of variance in your patterns if those patterns help them get their work done faster and more efficiently.
Designers and developers must be on the same page to be efficient and agile. Pattern libraries help with this issue. They not only apply consistency across the brand, but also help with a consistent code base. As a front end developer, I’m highly suspicious of companies that have not applied a pattern library. It is an indication that their engineering and product teams are not aligned.
I 100% agree with Jason Occhipinti. Having a system that supports good design alleviates stress overall in design/develop process.