How do designers work with product managers?

Please understand that the job of a product manager is to become the connector that assists the team in launching a successful product.

This means product managers are good at:

Clear Communication: As a part of the team's efforts to create great products, product managers must represent team goals, priorities, product roadmaps, and other components, including legal, marketing, customer operations, business, and more. This means they need to be very clear, concise, and relevant. It may not matter if designers or engineers may like to chat or mumble, after all these are not usually the focus of their job requirements. However, product managers do bad things that way. This is why product managers represent executive or external jobs - not that they are more noble than designers or engineers, but that product managers are generally more adept at communicating and will not be hired if they do not.

Good organizational skills: In order to successfully launch a good product, a product manager must be well aware of the status of product development, pay attention to the progress has not kept pace. When the team has something to do and is ready to roll out, she wants to be able to put together every piece of the world. This requires strong, as well as ninja master level organizational skills.

Working with all sorts of people and all kinds of characters, working happily: The product manager is going to talk to several clubs every day, and it's not uncommon for different people to come and go. Because product managers often do not have absolute authority (they can not hire, fire engineers or designers directly), they must prove themselves and win trust. If the product manager is a jerk, it quickly damages his or her influence. People are always impressed: weird, hard-working engineers, unreliable, Don Draper-style designers. (Editor's note: Don Draper is the owner of the American album "Mad Man.") But I can not imagine feeling similar in my product manager career. Again, this may be a bit generalized, but I think on average product managers are more mature in the organization than engineers and designers and empathize more with others.

Each product manager has its own unique strengths, just like the designer

Light is good at communication, organizational skills, easy to work together is not enough, a good product manager must also have the following skills:

Execution: product manager to assist the team launch of the product is consistent 1. The relative success of the goal, 2. The relative execution in accordance with the schedule, 3. The team feel relatively good? The more experienced product manager, ambition to implement the project (For example, a junior product manager may be responsible for adding an X function to a Y product, but for a senior product manager, the project in charge might be to create a Z action app) . If done well, it is like leading a smooth sailing ship. You have to make sure everyone knows what to do and does it. The crew hummed in the same tune, your journey was estimated correctly, supplies were enough, and when you decided to go to point X on the map you were not halfway hacked by sea urchins.

Design Thinking: How well do product managers understand, advocate, and help promote a successful user experience? A product manager with good design thinking is the designer's goal of collaboration. This does not mean that she is technically very capable of designing, but she has to take a critical look at the design proposal and understand the designer's value - even if she disagrees with the designer's advice.

Product Vision: How does a product manager interpret the marketplace, current technologies, issues, and what is her attitude toward innovative solutions to problems? This is basically the skill of a senior product manager. Visionary product managers are like sparks - they inspire the entire team to brave new directions that are bold and sometimes risky.

As a designer working with a product manager, it's important to remember that the entire team must be balanced to ensure that the team's characteristics are suitable for the task at hand. For example, product managers with weak design thinking should avoid design-focused projects such as product redesigns or launch important new products for users; or they should be experienced with other people who can help fill gaps in design Designer with. Similarly, designers who need to make their goals and schedules more structured can work with designers to focus on the most important tasks if they work with a highly executive product manager.

Making product managers a partner, a resource, not just a foreman, will make your job easier

Do you need a better understanding of the context of product-related areas? Your product manager can get them (if they can not, they'll get you involved with some insiders asking questions or until they figure out the answer). Want to know the reaction of customers, businesses or users? Find a product manager. To grasp the priority of various projects in the current project? The most serious bug? The latest information at hand tell us about the Y function of the message? You will certainly be grateful to someone from other perspectives to examine what you just came up with seven Design ideas and suggest where to start.

Your product manager can assist with context, data, insightful response, etc., so that you can focus your energies on the most influential design efforts. Your product manager can protect you from 85% of the surrounding interference, allowing you to concentrate on the job. In short do not be afraid to speak.

You will definitely disagree with the product manager

This will happen. In most cases this does not matter, this is the nature of the checks and balances between the three pillars of product development (designers, product managers and engineers). The following are some common differences of opinion:

First, the product is good enough? Can be introduced? As the success of the product, launched on time by the product manager is responsible, they naturally have incentives to promote the team to achieve a more aggressive milestone, so as early as possible to launch products, start to improve , Updated; Designers tend to do everything they can to create a perfect user experience, so they will enjoy having more time to implement and ponder their designs. Neither should go to extremes. No one wants to roll out the unfinished bad products tomorrow, and no one wants to spend ten years designing a perfect registration process. To do something, we must promptly launch good products (most people understand this point, but the real point of contention is that what is "good"? What is "timely"? Unfortunately, for some reason, this Arguments often become an ironic of the most unproductive). So, what can you do to solve the problem? You can calmly and rationally explain your current position and analyze the benefits and disadvantages of delaying the product's time-on-line. You can make the decision by an authoritative person. You You can ask colleagues (both my personal favorites) whom both parties trust; you can do some user testing to verify that there is a problem with assumptions about someone. In short, if you work with rational people, even if such disagreements arise again and again, that will not be a big problem.

Second, can we introduce some kind of experience that designers find of poor quality, but all sorts of metrics do well? This is subtle, as there are two situations. The first is the designer's point of view is correct, and the indicators we track do not properly track user value (perhaps too short or not informative - for example, an indicator performs well, but others we do not track But poor performance, we have no way of knowing). If that is the case, as a designer you should find other indicators to prove that such an experience is really poor. The second case is that designers give their own personal experience over the group. For example, users may not like to invite their friends prematurely. Even in the long run, the users have more friends using the product. The higher the value they bring to them.

Third, we fight from the bottom of my heart do not agree with this product strategy. Here's my story: "For Product Managers and Engineers: How to Work with Designers> More, and I think the designer needs to take seriously when thinking about working with a product manager.

No matter how disagreements are divided, if more than ever, the consensus on the ultimate goal is unbreakable, then more tactical disagreements are relatively easy to solve (if not, refer to the third case above, perhaps the time for change). I found it very useful to record everyone's arguments afterwards for everyone to listen to. They tend to wake up and learn from it. Sometimes they think the original controversy is silly. ("We've had such a trivial quarrel? There's no difference at all.")

The most care about product managers, is your reliability

The designer, do not disappear after lunch for Don Draper to find out his "creative mojo" until the afternoons afternoon. I'm serious, and there's no realm in the world of creativity that will keep you from desperately trying to meet promises. Yes, it is difficult to predict when it will flash to meet your high standards, but please note that I am saying "reliable" rather than before each deadline. You may not know when a good design will be implemented, but you should take the time to communicate clearly what you are doing, why you want to do it, and when you can change it. Share what you are doing Work done and your process. Explain why you are still exploring, what causes you are still not satisfied. In fact, when you talk to a product manager, your confidence in her heart immediately rises as it allows her to work more effectively as a product manager. Even better, it helps her understand you, understand how you work, and your relationships get closer together.

Because after the end of the day, you, my dear designer, can not just agree with the goal of your design work. What you should recognize is that the team building products - working together - is the only way to accomplish great things.

Julie Zhuo (Facebook Product Design Director): Years ago I was a product manager and then an engineer, and for the past seven years I was designing. Every day I work with people who work in these roles. Every day, I have a new understanding of the responsibilities, challenges and the art behind product development. The product manager is like a chameleon and constantly adapts to the elements required to launch a successful product. As a designer, how do you deal with their amiable charms, the endless flow of data, the way you manage your team and how well they talk to things?

Original address: medium.com

Compile: inside.com