The best handoff is no handoff. Teams that follow the Hot Potato process don’t have a handoff, a separate step in the design process. Instead, they exchange ideas all the time. And this exchange is bidirectional, meaning that designers and developers refine product ideas together in real-time. The prototype designers and devs are working on becomes the living spec of the project. And since the interaction happens on a regular basis, both designers and developers start to use the same language when discussing it.

Designers and developers sit together

Create designer + developer pairs to maximize work efficiency. Ideally, they should sit together in person, but if it is impossible, it’s okay to use real-time synchronous tools to simulate working together in a co-located way. For example, have a Zoom chat open during working sessions.

Both designers and developers work together at the same time

Unlike the waterfall process, where developers wait for designers to provide a ready-to-implementation design, the Hot Potato process invites developers not to wait for designers. Consider what designers could do while developers are busy and what developers could do while designers busy. This will enable both teams to work together simultaneously.

Iterative prototyping

New ideas should be quickly turned into prototypes. Once prototypes are created, they’re passed around quickly for feedback and refinement. Each new iteration builds on the previous one, leading to better solutions over time.