Product Manager and UX Designer
A product designer and an UX designer’s roles go hand in hand. In fact, we often see in small companies hire one person for both the roles. Because there is not much difference in work.
But this thing is not the same in case of mid or a large-sized company as the quantum of work increase and some additional details are also added. Hence, we have specialized people for both these roles.
So with this blog, you will get to know how to align UX with product management and how the two work effectively together to deliver a great product. So let’s get started.
Before going deeper into this, you need to first understand the basic roles of the Product manager and UX designer. Which are:
Role of a Product Manager- A product manager is one who is responsible for the overall development of the product. From building the product to the marketing till the very end, a product manager manages things. They are the one who is in touch with all the respective departments and the stakeholders for the betterment of the product.
They are also responsible for defining all the requirements and features of the product. Their role also includes understanding the needs of the customers/ markets. So that they build a desired product according to the need of the user.
Role of the UX Designer- A UX Designer’s role is a little different from a product manager’s role. Their duties include understanding the user’s expectations and designing the product accordingly. Their goal is to design a solution that is useful in solving the user’s problems while using a particular product. They look at the usability success of the product.
They define the product layout and its functions. Their core role is to design a product in such a way that the needs of the user are met.
Being a UX designer, you can contribute to different departments in your company. This can be by positively helping them in making them aware of the scenario at the core field. As this will help the entire team to have a profitable and harmonious working relationship.
“Product managers should work closely with UX designers to better understand the users.”
This quote is extremely helpful in understanding the importance of both of them working together. The product manager needs to understand that at the end, the UX designer is much closer to the users. The UX designer can benefit the product manager by providing the essential factors which he/she needs to focus on.
Challenges Faced By UX Management Team
A UX management is a way to manage customer related experiences in order to have more efficiency in the product’s working. Typical UX management activities are to define an organization’s UX design language and strategy and manage the work processes around UX design.
There is a basic principle behind the UX management which is to enable the UX resources, researchers, designers and design leaders and value their points.
The sign for a successful UX management is that your business is experiencing consecutive growth. It is logical if your business is growing, then all your products are liked by the users as well.
A good UX management is the one which accords to the customer’s demand – that means a customer centric strategy. The UX ROI (Return On Investment) should be measured through metrics such as healthy conversion and drop-off rates.
Types of UX Management
There are two types of UX Management, which are:
Strategic: This is about a long-term plan. It includes things like how to promote UX in all the fields, what are the strategies that need to be adapted for a successful long run, and with which organizations you can align UX and many such things. We also know it as a high level UX management.
Tactical: This is about everyday issues. If you are a UX designer, then in this type of management you need to be in the frontline addressing everyday issues. You need to collectively handle your team. UX design covers the areas of UI design, usability testing, human factors engineering and some more. So you need to have good command of the skills based on these areas.
Interesting Fact!
“Focus on skill building and not on roles”. Yes, this is a fact that many people don’t pay attention to. Having a team of multi-skilled people will help your company. It is very effective, as it maximises what you’re able to do.
Giving you some level of satisfaction and swiftness in the field that one member of the team isn’t available. We find it that having such a team performs better than others. Letting everyone’s mindset about what they do can boost the overall performance of the team.
Your goal should be to focus on the outcomes and not on the output. Sometimes the person only gets stuck in appointing roles. Output is easy to measure, but the trickier one is to measure the outcome.
Conclusion
“UX designers and Product Managers Should complement each other and work towards the achievement of a common goal i.e. to create the best viable product.”
Allotting the right roles or responsibilities to the right person not just gives you an effective result, but also reduces the overall cost and its related risks of the project.
Image by Enrique Bores from Pixabay.
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