Three things I think the strength as product/project manager from UX designer? — empathy, make right decision and clarify the real need.

Whilst transferring as product manager from UX designer, it is vital to share more help collaborate and discuss with stakeholders from UX designer as product manager during these three months.

How to transfer to product manager as designer?

Well, in the beginning, my point is “The more your ask, you will gain more “

After working as UX or UI/UX designer, I think if you would like to be have a vision of whole scope of product and stakeholders, it is great chance to transfer to a management role to plan, execute the product roadmap and testing the flow and features to validate your product can be worked out or not.

One important thing you should focus on is to build up your technique knowledge and always asking with your developers. While in my first role as UI/UX designer four years ago, my initial thoughts only for user interface and flow of user experience design. But, the developers asked me to think about responsive design and all the logic on the each interfaces and how to do product development specifically, like some of features like staff management arrange API document for back-end to have settlement at the beginning of user interfaces. If you don’t know any, just feel free to ask questions, they will help you realise and tell you how they work out in the product development combined with UI framework or any other toolkits. They will become a friend to share more and be a friend in a product development.

Three things I had been learned worked as product/project manager in the company: Empathy, make right decision, and clarifying the real need.

Empathy is the key that understanding different stakeholders and clients in their own visions, trying to communicate with them in their scale of perspectives.

With external stakeholders, in the first one month, the client had their attempt to hand in the interface which aligned with their expectations attached with their hand-writing in the logic of Microsoft excel or but lack of knowledge of product development. The first step is to analyse their hand-drafting, clarifying their need from hand-drafting and their difficulties. For example, whilst we had discussed about the factory production system in number of order, they had their own thoughts which recorded any progress of factory production in each steps. I quickly recognise and clarify their thoughts on recording the progress of any status, number of each step of production as record history, marking each merchandise can be recorded before and after exporting.

Another example, the client also had their thoughts toward adding other columns in the middle of product development. You need to spend more time to negotiate with the client about the product development status and process and talk to them about how it may have influence on the risks especially back-end for designing database schema and also the design of interfaces alongside the front-end’s logic of UI framework. It spend too much time but you need to pay for it. For a long-term, it will build up the relationship which can be trustworthy and long-term collaboration.

For internal stakeholders, if your stakeholder is an entry-level UI/UX designer especially lack of the knowledge within product development, you need to spend spare time to teach the fundamentals for designers about what are the user’s story and their need, cultivating designer to transfer client’s need from user interviews to the main flow of journey mapping or further pathways. It will result in the designers from the entry-level to the associate role especially collaboration with developers.

Make right decision is the key to settle down the boundaries of minimum of solutions also aligned with their need

Whilst discussing with stakeholders, you need to dig out the flow firstly, use card sorting tools to categorise the need they would like to pursue, and any need to realise their intentions and need, like design thinking methodologies, collect the different insights from different angles, and leading to the clear boundaries for clear user’s need and also have considerations for client/user’s need.

Clarify the real need is the key that collect information from different stakeholders but to dig out the real need but not expectations.

Whilst discussing with stakeholders, you need to pay attention from user interviews about their thoughts, opinions and different perspectives, especially your client or stakeholders have a lots of thoughts and expectations toward the flow and interface.

Firstly, listen to their mindset carefully and always asking why, leading to the core insights that they would like to solve. For example, while the stakeholders asking their mindsets and expectations, you need to dig out their opinions and why about the flow they would like to pursue, and minimum the need into simple and easy solutions. Like single button, and tab to simplify the content they want to achieve in their factory production, in order to create the flow of system.

Thank you for the reading. Feel free to discuss further or any thoughts would be appreciated:)