Designers think in flows. Developers think in data. That’s the real friction.

There’s tension during handovers.
Extra meetings pop up.
Sometimes, a whole new role—like a product owner or manager—is there just to translate between the two sides.
Why?
Because we’re trained differently.

UX designers?
→ Think in flows and stories—actions. Verbs.

Developers?
→ Think in data models—structured objects. Nouns.

And that causes a real problem.
Developers often have to reverse-engineer the design just to figure out what the data model should be.
And the designer? Usually left out of that conversation.

I realised this wasn’t just a handover issue—
it was a flaw in how I thought about UX and product architecture.
So I changed the way I work.

I started with objects, not just flows.
Now I map what actions go with what objects before any prototyping.
I create data models with actions and connections.

That small shift made a big difference:
✔️ Speed — Backend and design teams can work in parallel
✔️ Optimisation — No more bottlenecks or endless back-and-forth
✔️ User-centered data — Built around what users actually need
✔️ Less stress — Fewer misunderstandings and meetings
✔️ Future-proofing — A solid foundation that scales

Designers and developers don’t need a translator—
They just need a shared language.