t3n: Interface Driven Development

In issue 74 (1st quarter 2024), t3n magazine for digital pioneers and the digital economy focuses on the topic of ‘urban experience’ and user-friendliness in various areas. The general user experience, be it in mobility, urbanity, design, robotics or mixed reality, and the resulting user acceptance, should be the basis and foundation for many decision-making and change processes. In the day-to-day work of our Format D project teams, we not only pay attention to classic UX when it comes to the realisation of products, but also to a common understanding between design and development, as well as between the individual developers themselves. To describe and emphasise the potential that arises from this efficient approach, our full-stack developer Simon has published an article on the ‘Interface Driven Development’ approach. 

Interface Driven Development (IDD) means developing functionalities based on already harmonised and defined interfaces. The interface is to be understood as an agreement and common basis between all parties who work with it, thus providing a common basic understanding as well as security and traceability in the application. This binding basis enables a new type of developer experience, the aim of which is to also consider the use cases and expectations of other developers in order to enable intuitive and efficient work. For example, in the case of components that differ in terms of presentation and functionality but have the same data structure. This holistic way of thinking simplifies work steps during implementation, as it also enables software developers from other projects and other disciplines to work with familiar patterns. This striving for efficiency is also deeply rooted in our processes, interfaces and code structures, which we constantly optimise based on developer feedback.

Anyone who knows Format D knows that we always enjoy questioning ourselves, our methods and our ways of working in order to constantly optimise the quality of our processes. This benefits the users, the products and, of course, our customers, and we are delighted that the topic of developer experience is moving further into the foreground with this article.