Bridging design and engineering

Working effectively with developers across different teams

Working across WebMD, Medscape, and Havas taught me how differently teams interpret design and collaborate. The real skill was adjusting my approach so the final output matched the intent, regardless of each group’s habits or workflows.

WebMD and Medscape

The WebMD team followed specs literally, so the build could drift from the intended look or feel. Getting adjustments made took patience, steady explanations, and clear rationale. Medscape was the opposite. Their younger team was open, flexible, and willing to sit together to figure out how the design should translate. Two very different groups, two different collaboration styles.

Learning how each team operated helped me adapt quickly. One needed calm diplomacy, the other needed hands on collaboration. Both required clear conversations that aligned expectations early.

“Good collaboration is knowing how to meet each team where they are.”

Havas

At Havas most of the collaboration was with print designers learning digital. I often sat beside them while they built pages, helping translate their layouts into clean, usable interfaces. When technical questions came up, I could walk to the dev team, explain the design goal, and work through the constraints in real time. It created smoother handoffs and kept the quality bar consistent across very different parts of the agency.

Key takeaway: Adapting your communication style to match each team makes the work stronger. It reduces friction, keeps the intent intact, and builds trust, which is how you ship better products in any organization.