What do you do if you want to enhance your understanding of user experience and design as a Product Manager? (2024)

A product manager for any product offering with a user experience (web, mobile, on-device) is recommend learning & applying key techniques in “Design Thinking.” The design thinking journey employs techniques like problem space exploration & definition, empathy interviewing, brainstorming & ideation sessions, concept & prototype development, & experimentation testing to validate desirability, viability, & feasibility of a proposed UI-enabled product. Product mgmt. should learn from UX designers how to create low-fidelity concepts/prototypes to experiment with customers (story boards, wireframes, mock prototypes). Using design thinking as a product manager can enable informed decision-making on building the right product; or to stop/pivot.

1.Learn the UX design buzzwords by going through a course, to start with.2.Try hand-on about how to apply them to a rela life scenario.3.Learn the most common tools.4.Talk to experienced designers to understand their real life perspective.5.Look for industry updates in the UX design space.6.Most importantly, understand the 'empathy' behind the expereince of the user rather than application of standard tools and techniques.

Pour progresser en Product Design les deux approches sont complémentaires. Il est essentiel de se construire une base solide de connaissances théoriques en étudiant les références en UX et design, les tendances actuelles à travers des ouvrages, artciles et conférences. En parallèle, la pratique régulière par la participation à la User Research, séances de tests, enquêtes et focus groupes permet d'affiner les compétences. Travailler étroitement avec des UX designers dans des ateliers de brainstorming et en partageant les feedbacks intègre les principes appris à la réalité du terrain. C'est en combinant l'apprentissage continu à l'application concrète qu'une personne peut se perfectionner en design de produit.

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Good UX is a five-legged stool:1. The voice in your head: you need to know the problem you want to solve and the solution you want to build for it.2. The picture in front of you: the visuals created by your designer and tangible product artifacts created by your engineers. Great designs intuitively paint your vision to create the reality you set out to build.3. (Most important) The eye of the beholder: how your user, the most important actor, perceives the solution you built, and the feedback they have for you. 4. The peripherals: how are your competitors solving this problem? Are there alternatives/substitutes to the solution you built?5. Rinse, repeat, goto #1: take these insights back in to refine and expand that voice in your head.

Observe some sessions of users trying to perform tasks or achieve goals with your product. The level of empathy you develop from seeing _first hand_ as someone struggles with what seems obvious (with the benefit of the curse of knowledge) is significant. This will change your perspective.Use that as the basis for reaching out to your collaboration peers on the UX/CX/design side, and ask them what they need you to understand about the science of making experiences better. From increasing the hom*ogeneity of user group definitions to learning how to run critiques. You aren't trying to DO the design work, you're trying to work better with the designers.

Consider using a 'friction by design' approach in some areas of your product. Intentionally adding or not immediately resolving small pain points can provoke more authentic user feedback and engagement, revealing deeper insights into user behavior and needs. This strategy should be used judiciously to avoid frustrating users but can uncover opportunities for significant improvements that standard feedback methods might miss.

I have had an opportunity recently to work on UI/UX revamp of a product I am handling:🔅 Firstly, it is important to map the customer journey and understand the pain points of users.✳️ Secondly, work closely with the UI/UX designers and explore the possible design solutions. Ask the designer about limitations and alternatives.🎯 Lastly, collaborating and reviewing mockups regularly plays an important role as you can check if the product is shaping up as expected.

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To make the UX collaboration meaningful, understand product goals and define metrics that will measure and track 'user happiness'. Generally, metrics like NPS, Retention, Stickiness (DAU/MAU ratio) co-relate with the user happiness index. Utilize behavioral analytics tools (e.g. MixPanel, Pendo) to understand user's in-app behavior, task completion rates, friction points. Then, work with your UX/Design teams to create UX hypotheses. Validate through experimentation and feedback channels. If your metrics start trending in the right direction, you know you are applying the UX and Design principles effectively.

Continuous learning is a phrase often talked about but seldom followed.; ironically, many of us are doing it without realising it! UX is constantly evolving and shifting, so it makes good sense to follow trends, watch the market and spot innovation. Everyone loves talking about new ideas as well so it's a great way to connect with people as well as learn.

My favorite way of doing this is staying up to date on new products. Seeing things in the wild is far more valuable than secondhand learning like conferences or books or articles. Go right to the source, and treat it like a workshop. Try to figure out why they made the design decisions they made. Think about what you'd do differently or what you'd want to borrow for your own work. If you really want extra credit, email the company or find the PM and designer on Linkedin and ask them. Most UX experts worth their salt are happy to share what they've learned, especially with younger professionals just getting started.

Don't just limit yourself to analyzing designs of competitors. Reviewing your favorite products astutely can also be incredibly illuminating, revealing design patterns, UX choices, and well-thought out pathways that could offer a lot to learn from.We're generally so well-tuned and familiar with using products that we don't notice many of these decisions. Navigating products mindfully and consciously can unlock a goldmine of choices and insights, many of which can translate well to your own product despite the difference in domains.Even products that seem distant from or irrelevant to your use case can help you generate design ideas for your own product. There's a reason we've coined terms like "Netflix of books".

ever underestimate the power of analyzing competitors, and never miss the chance to do so.Think of it this way: you're building a Lego structure but taking inspiration from another.However, this doesn't mean you're just copying and pasting or making minor tweaks and pasting.When analyzing competitors, try to think about how you can stand out by spotting innovation opportunities. Ask yourself, "Will this feature make us stand out?" or "Should we implement this process, and will it solve my users' pain points?"Always aim to solve user problems better than anyone else.

A plethora of Low Code No Code tools have enabled just anyone to easily create wireframes, mockups and to an extent even working prototypes. But the best tool to start with wireframing has to be pen/pencil/marker on page/marker. AI Plugins on Visily and Figma can also come in handy while getting started with practicing design

Hands-on practice with design tools is invaluable for a Product Manager. Creating wireframes, mockups, or full interfaces enhances your understanding of design challenges. It also enables you to swiftly produce prototypes for idea communication and testing. This practical experience not only improves your design literacy but also fosters a more collaborative environment, as you can better articulate and visualize concepts to both users and stakeholders.

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One thing I have found extremely valuable is to iterate, iterate, iterate. 1) Before build, get the design in front of potential users and collect feedback before the build. 2) when buiding, use A/B tesing on design. 3) after build, shadow users and see how they use the system and iterate.One of the biggest things I have learned over the years is that you need to give a user multiple ways sometimes to do things. You'll have power users, keyboard users, mouse users. Users will use the systems differently. Acknowledge that you might have to tweak after the fact and that is ok.

To improve your skills in understanding user experience for product management, you should consider:1. Studying UX/UI Design (Basic).2. Observing and interacting with users and stakeholders. 3. Conducting interviews, surveys, usability tests with the design team. 4. Collaborating with design teams (Very important). 5. Participating in workshops and events about user experience. And always practice empathy by considering users' perspectives.