YakShaving

Twitter has an article in A List Apart about how they created Twitter bootstrap.   I loved learning about their process

If I can help it, this is how all of our teams work from now on.

“Yada yada yada…. It all boiled down to one core concept.   Pairing designers with developers“

Ultimately this boiled down to one core concept: pairing designers with developers. Constant interaction with developers is what sparked Bootstrap and continues to drive its development over a year later. From whiteboarding ideas to coding rough prototypes, collaborating across disciplines is what made Bootstrap successful for internal use at Twitter. This process informed the development of nearly every feature in Bootstrap and has worked remarkably well over time.

Building Bootstrap in this way meant communication was key and most design work happened in code. Since the final deliverable for Bootstrap is always code, it made the most sense to work there as often as possible to communicate our ideas. This put one into the mindset of a good developer, encouraging succinct components, but with the visual polish and thoroughness one expects from a dedicated designer.

Respond to me on Twitter: @AshBhoopathy or follow the discussion on HN.