BIZ NEED
(PM)
USER NEED
(DESIGN)
FOCUS ON THE TEAM
not the outcome
FOCUS ON PROCESS
not the deliverables
Product
Decisions
Here
FEASIBILITY
(ENGINEERING)
WHEN ASKED WHAT DO DESIGNERS ENJOY AND
NOT ENJOY WHEN WORKING WITH PM'S?
-
Designer > PM
DESIGNERS APPRECIATE WHEN:
Product managers advocate
for design and users.
Shield designers from meetings
so they can focus on work.
Giving design plenty of time
to create designs.
Helping designers connect
business priority to their
designs & features.
Pairing together on designs
and sketching together.
DESIGNERS Don't APPRECIATE WHEN:
Product managers change their
designs without asking/knowing.
Set unrealistic expectations with
clients or stakeholders and design
has to sacrifice their craft quality
to meet delivery needs.
Making a designer feel like they
work for them. When they are
part of the balanced team.
WHEN ASKED WHAT DO ENGINEERS ENJOY AND
NOT ENJOY WHEN WORKING WITH DESIGNERS?
-
ENGINEERS > DESIGNERS
ENGINEERS APPRECIATE WHEN:
Doing design reviews and design
sketching workshops with them.
They love when you share user
insights and learnings around
designs being validated, unvalidated and learnings along
the way.
Knowing that the design works and is usable by users. They love when you share insights to ensure what they are building is valuable, They also love when you share positive
user feedback that what they have built is being loved by users and is solving their need.
Reinforce that engineers can tell
you anything and talk about anything when it comes to the designs we are building.
Include links of the latest design
or source of truth.
Having style guides.
Tweaking a design to make it
easier to implement.
Modeling complexities in a visual way so we can all have a shared
understanding and alignment.
ENGINEERS Don't APPRECIATE WHEN:
Not empathizing with them and
not working with them when they
push back on a design or technical
challenge that your design is
informing. There are usually other
ways solve a problem with U.I. and
avoid the "my way or the highway."
When they work on a design that is
outdated or not the right screens.
Changing the designs in the middle
of building them because they were
not validated and tested first.
WHEN ASKED WHAT DO DESIGNERS ENJOY AND
NOT ENJOY WHEN WORKING WITH ENGINEERS?
-
DESIGNERS > ENGINEERS
DESIGNERS APPRECIATE WHEN:
Engineers effectively communicate
technical constraints.
Take the time to understand
the desired user outcomes.
Especially when offering
alternative options. Don't just
decide on what's most easiest
to implement.
Care about what's best for the users of our tools.
Care about the design and style
details and want to make it look
like the design mocks.
DESIGNERS Don't APPRECIATE WHEN:
Make design decisions or
change designs without informing
the designers.
WHEN ASKED WHAT DO PM'S ENJOY AND
NOT ENJOY WHEN WORKING WITH DESIGNERS?
-
PM'S > DESIGNERS
PM'S APPRECIATE WHEN:
Designers have a focused set
of goals & designs that map to
the product strategy and the business goals/initiatives.
Pairing with Designers and bouncing ideas of each other.
Pairing on research plans,
deciding on who to talk to for research and testing, being together during user interviews, user testing and synthesis.
Help to model business complexities in the current state
so we can look for problems.
Not waiting for the design to be absolutely perfect when we have
engineers ready to build. Engineers
can start with the wire-frames 1st to build functionality and then add style stories later. Be lean.
PM'S Don't APPRECIATE WHEN:
Not staying focused on what's
within the scope or strategy and
just doing wild ideas, complicated
features to build, and way out
future designs.
Not having a clear set of learning
goals for research and testing and
just doing research for the sake
of doing research. "Research should
help us with our goals."
Designers being inflexible & dominated
when it comes to a approach of a
process and not trying new things..
Unable to take and received feedback
on their design because they were too
attached to their original vision.