July 17, 2008
Design Collaboration
Posted by Dan Cooney at 12:51 AM
Beyond the Walls
At Adobe, we believe collaboration is a fundamental component of the design process. If you ever have the opportunity to take a tour of our corporate headquarters, you'll see that reflected right down to our physical work environment.
A visit to the design floor shows off the results of a recent renovation during which we gutted the traditional mix of office spaces and meeting rooms. Instead you will find a dynamic open workspace. Offices were replaced with desks, couches, smart boards, display stations and multiple surfaces covered with whiteboards. The result is a space that not only accommodates a collaborative team but actually promotes it.
Designers easily keep aware of what others are working on, we chat over our shoulders to consider design alternatives, and we have a constant design review as other team members, engineers, and product managers visit the floor. We are in an open environment and we've seen great things come out of the design team since the walls came down!
Beyond the (Virtual) Walls
Physical walls are not our only challenge when it comes to collaborative design for Acrobat.com. The Acrobat.com team was formed by an existing Adobe Hosted Services design team and the Buzzword design team. Two teams existing on two coasts. So, the question became, how do we extend our collaborative successes without sitting side by side all day?
We found the answer in our very own product offering. We all became loyal ConnectNow users in a hurry. A common internal chat solution helps, but when 1 picture = 1,000 words…
We are constantly moving into our connect rooms to show our work. There, we share not only our screens but also our webcams. Its face to face collaboration, complete with online whiteboards. We also began to author all of our designs in Buzzword. This allowed every member of the team to constantly see the most recent design thoughts and to toss around new concepts as the work progressed.
The acrobat.com suite has extended our collaborative workspace and changed the way we design.
How has it changed the way you work?
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Comments
July 17, 2008
06:21 AM
Andrew Meyers writes:
I'd love to see some photos!
July 17, 2008
12:21 PM
jason writes:
Just found acrobat.com and signed up. It is amazing. I am an educator and this tool will make a difference. thank you so much for creating it.