When building component library, how should component designers and other designers cooperate? What is the working mode of component design? The author of this article analyzes the model of building component libraries from three aspects: independent production, centralized production, and joint production, hoping to help you.
A classmate told me that she has been trying to build a business component library for her own products recently, but she has a confusion:
"Building a component library is not a simple task, and it can even be said to be very heavy. So should I be dedicated to designing component libraries for a full-time job? But I still need to do product requirements now, and I feel that time is already very tight.
I want to know, how should component designers and other designers cooperate? What should the working mode of component design be like? "
There are many working modes for building component libraries. I will introduce you to three modes in this article: independent production, centralized production, and joint production of . I believe it will be helpful to you.
01 Independent production mode
"Independent production" means that for a team, a certain business designer of is arranged as the only component producer ; or for a company, a certain business design team is arranged as the only component design team. Under the
model, the component made by , the business and component designer, is used not only when designing business needs by yourself, but also serves other business designers or teams. , while other business designers or teams will provide component design requirements to this business and component designer to update and optimize component libraries. The following figure takes a team's independent production model as an example:
This collaboration model looks feasible, but it also has some disadvantages:
1. Component versatility is low
Since this designer makes components according to his own business needs, the component assets he makes may not be able to adapt to the business needs of other designers. When others use it, may require a lot of modifications and customization of , or make demands for component optimization and adjustment.
2. Component professionalism is low
Since this component designer also needs to do business design, must not be able to divide too much energy to study and refine the details of components; it is unlikely to write a complete specification and constraint on how to use components; even the new components added and optimized requirements proposed by other business designers may not be accepted.
Work Task:
's "independent production" model is more suitable for 's relatively mature and stable business component library . There are not many components that need to be added from 0-1. Various business lines and designers have also gained high recognition of components and are able to apply them proficiently. This collaboration model requires a high level of capabilities for this business and component designer, and the component library needs to take into account both design and management . Its job responsibilities include:
- is responsible for the collection, evaluation and scheduling of component requirements. The definition of component requirements, analysis and research of component design results and output of
- component design results and usage rules. The quality acceptance of components after development and launch of
- components, the review of components and rules, the release and information synchronization, etc.
02 Centralized production mode
"Centralized production" means that for a team, arranges a full-time designer as the only component producer ; or for a company, arranges a full-time design team as the only component production team. This full-time designer or full-time design team does not depend on any business line and does not undertake business needs . The following figure takes a team's centralized production model as an example:
The benefits of this collaboration model are:
1) The component professionalism is high
Since the designer is dedicated to the components, the production quality and design depth of the components can be improved. It can be done better whether it is the quality of component design or the process of using components.
2) Component universality
Since it does not participate in any business needs, component designers can examine the component precipitation and optimization needs of each business more equally. Generally, they will not focus on a certain business, but will conduct component production from a universal perspective.
But this collaboration model also has its drawbacks: components are weak in business.
Because it does not contact business needs, the components made by full-time component designers may not be "pragmatic" and are too ideal. Components may be "not down-to-earth" in actual business applications, not so in line with business needs, or they may still be considered in a comprehensive manner in the process of solving actual business.
work tasks:
's "centralized production" model is more suitable for 's component library from 0-1, or , which has weak business attributes in . The job responsibilities of a full-time component designer not only include the work content we mentioned above, but also include:
- . The construction management and development planning of the component library
- . Actively improve the design quality of the component itself
- . Actively think about how to empower the business from the component side, improve product ease of use and user experience
- . Actively improve the user experience of the component, and ensure that the components are used efficiently and correctly through experience measurement and detection.
03. Joint production mode
"Joint production" means that for a team, arranges several business designers to undertake part of the component production work at the same time ; or for a company, several business design teams need to send 1-2 business designers to form a component production team, and everyone builds the component library together.
This also requires a designer with experience in component library construction and management as the person in charge of to coordinate and arrange component design work. The following figure takes a team's joint production model as an example: the benefits of this collaboration model of
are: the professionalism, versatility and businessability of components have been improved.
- Business: The component library can be deeply bound to the business, and design precipitation comes from practice and empowers it in practice.
- Professionalism: Each business designer or each business team can evenly divide the workload of component design, and the design quality and research depth of components can be guaranteed to a certain extent.
- Universality: Enhance the connection between various business designers and teams, and cooperate with everyone, so as to avoid component design focusing on a certain business.
But this collaboration model also has problems: needs to establish a clear collaboration mechanism. The collaboration method of
involves a larger number of relevant personnel, so a stronger unified coordination and management mechanism is needed , and a designer who can be responsible for this needs to coordinate and coordinate globally.
Work Task:
's "joint production" model is relatively common, and can be used for component library construction work at different stages . This requires a high level of ability for the component library manager. It is necessary to take into account all the work content mentioned above based on actual conditions; especially to have some experience in managing and coordinating the progress of component work.
04 Experience and suggestions
In the team I have experienced, I have not yet met a full-time component designer. Because for the business component library, as a tool to improve business efficiency, it is impossible to separate the , which exists separately from the business. Business designers are usually both designers and managers of business components and users.
also has some experience and suggestions to share with you:
1) There is no absolute right or wrong in the component collaboration model, it mainly depends on whether it is suitable for your business and team characteristics.
You can choose a suitable collaboration method based on your own abilities, the actual collaboration situation of the team and business attributes, and you can also create a new model. If you are an executor, you can also first give a set of collaborative plans and contact the leader to discuss how to implement the plan.
2) The component collaboration model is not static, and adjustments must be made in time at different stages. The collaborative model of component work in
is a means to manage and design components and ensure the sustainable and healthy development of component libraries.As the continuous development of component libraries and business, adjustments can be made in a timely manner according to changes in different stages and the operation of the mode.
columnist
Yuan Yao, WeChat public account: Changgong Boy, everyone is a columnist of product managers. B-end experience designer of a major first-line Internet manufacturer, , Tsinghua University School of Fine Arts, , bachelor's and master's degree. He was once responsible for the design and operation of Ant Design components, the largest open source component library in China. He is currently responsible for the B-end product experience design and the construction of component libraries in international business lines.
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