Designer and Paravel founder Trent Walton on the strength of small teams with a skill set balanced among planning, design and development:
When various skill sets are combined in this way, people learn from each other. Rather than creating to-do lists filled with nudges and site tweaks for developers, designers could learn CSS and edit designs in the browser alongside more intensive development. Developers could hone their design sensibilities and contribute by making enhancements such as gestures, geolocation, and performance a part of the design process.
Trent’s right. The faster we mix and integrate our teams, the less “siloed” work and more “T shaped” contributors, the stronger our web work becomes.