COLLABORATION - HOW DIGITAL DESIGNERS & BUILDERS need to work more closely together...

Two weeks ago I hosted the Dibi Conference, produced by those lovely  people at EPIC TIMES. Part of my role was to open the morning and afternoon sessions, and close the event with a summing up. Here is the second of those two Blog Posts relating to the conference - here is my opening of the afternoon session and my summing up...

TRON - a pioneering movie back in 1982, CGi was in its infancy - in fact many of the CGi Sequences in the original film were not in fact Cgi but Actors in costumes, clever use of lighting and hand drawn animation -  to simulate the idea of CGi. How far we have come in the 30 years since the first film, the clip we closed that sequence with was about how one man might influence others to enable the future of the whole - and in the latest film Tron Legacy one of its key themes is collaboration. Indeed, only by working together can we hope to create lasting success.

Collaboration, is key to our Creative industries - many of the projects we work on today employ the talents and skills from dozens of disciplines to create those environments, solutions, systems that deliver our present and future needs.

Our conference here today offers the opportunity to hear from specialists from both the Design and Developer/Build Arenas - but we hope through the breaks and beyond that we stimulate better dialogue between all the disciplines - For a future where we are far more conscious of each others disciplines, blurring the lines between Design, Build and development.

Crowd Sourcing for Talent and skills through the many freelancer networks has increasingly made Global collaborative effort an every day occurrence for many of us. Employing the cloud as a global project hub we all can share and benefit  in the Design and Development skills from around the world meaning we all grow and develop together.  Open Source platforms have been key to developing shared effort and experience.

This morning you will have had the opportunity to hear of Motivation, Revolution, Consumer, User and HTML5! From Building it to Memories of the way things were and the dreams of how the future might be - 

This Afternoon,  our speakers, themselves great collaborators will continue some of those thoughtful journeys and hopefully inspire you to some new ones - 

Here was my final summing up of the days key speakers...

Today we have gone behind the curtain, and more...

Dan Rubin opened our day by asking us to ‘Follow your heart’, but more importantly to know  your passion (s) through trying new things and once you understand your passion (s) you can excel. Successful returns for the best of companies are byproduct of their passionate priorities - Siting Apple and Disney as examples of organizations who have been successful through passion.

Phil Sturgeon showed us how using the right language,  working in the right environment and how monitoring and measuring will ensure you measure up. Oh and how we can all hopefully get free beer! 

Jack Sheppard talked of the revolution the extension of us humans and how we have moved to user value and the creation of products the influence social structures for human gain. Left field cult style meets the web .

Colin Eberhardt explored HTML5 and showed us that today it might not be the Framework for all, but that through open source, a collaborative cross platform framework solution might be a shining light as we hit the doldrums in the hype cycle of HTML5 in the near future. 

Luke Murphy - Wearmouth discussed design led by data, desire paths leading UX UI. Inspiring a lot of debate in the room. He showed that analysing data is not nearly enough. Acting upon it is the only way!

Paul Mckever examined that sweet spot, the perfect balance pitch with great content - and gave us an insightful reflection on typography and not to talk it at face value.

Paul Adam Davis showed us some great gifs to illustrate that there's always a better way! 

Only working together through collaborative effort can we succeed... Kirstie Anderson reminded us that our sleeping life is really as important as our waking and how our dreamtime allows us to realise them - our dreams, in our waking lives.

Joseff Mendelssohn discussed culture and that Culture starts with ourselves - how our own drivers and motivations and the blend of cultures from colleagues, sharing similar values and motivations, shared overall goals - through great communication - give an organisation it's wider cultural identity. 

Dan Donald talked of pure UX and its impact on responsive design.  Leaving us a trail of choices for digital professionals .

Ross Lawley,  took a fresh look at Databases,  Data Management and scaling. 

Marta Armada gave us a fresh look at using the right tools for the job. A Confident close and persuasive argument for us to take away. Design good not lazy!

Wes Mason took us to Japan... Well Honshuu , and showed us how 'island life' can be sweet! And not to fear, fear itself - prepare for failure and expect the unexpected - it will happen. Communication - logging and speaking across .

Aral Balkan concluded our day as we started our afternoon -  only by working together can we create a successful future. Collaboration across all disciplines. Because we are all in this together - our experience is shared.  Shared whether we like it or not. That an open world might be a better world for all of us. An inspired and insightful conclusion to our day. 

See you all next year! 

For more information on the speakers or the conference - click the links or visit www.dibiconference.com