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Working with product designers

Product managers work closely with product designers on a regular basis. As with any close working relationship, product managers and product designers need to find the balance between creative tension and tight collaboration that brings about brilliant solutions to their customers’ problems.

7 ways to improve your designer–PM collaboration. Product designers spend a lot of time with product managers. There’s an art to creating an exceptional, mutually beneficial working relationship. Adam Amran spoke to several experienced product managers and designers at Productboard, sprinkled in his own experience, and created this helpful guide to the art of designer - product manager collaboration.

(via @productboard)

How product managers can work effectively with product designers. A good relationship between product managers and designers is crucial to product success. Edward Chechique shares some lessons he learned from working closely with product managers to explain the product designer role, how it compares to the product manager role, and how to work and collaborate effectively with product designers to deliver a great product.

(via edwardchechique)

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Bye Bye Blackberry

There comes a time when you just have to pull the plug on supporting an old product of yours. And today, that day has come for the legendary Blackberry smartphone.

Before the ubiquitous touchscreen smartphones of today – notably, the iPhone and countless Android devices – the “CrackBerry” was the device of choice for business people, influencers, and heck, even President Barack Obama. My fingers can still remember the feel of that microscopic, tactile keyboard. 

But just over a week ago, the last day passed for Blackberry to support the latest Blackberry software it released nearly a decade ago. If you happened to have a working Blackberry today and still paid for the cellular and data service… well… sorry, but you’re out of luck. It’s time to catch up to the rest of us.

This was, of course, long overdue. But… it gets you thinking about when is the right time to stop supporting a product you’ve put out there? 

You can ask yourself a few questions to help figure it out…

1. Does your growth curve look like an upside-down hockey stick?
2. Is that product holding you back from supporting something that actually does add value to your business?
3. If you took service down for a week – would anybody actually complain?

If you answered yes to any of those questions… it may be time to really evaluate that product of yours. If you answered yes to all of those questions… then I think we both know what the real fate of that product should be. 

Regardless, it really is the end of an era for Blackberry. Maybe later today, you can crack open a Bubly and have a drink in its memory. 

UXers and product managers both say others intrude on their work. To understand how user experience professionals (UX) and product managers (PM) see their roles and how the roles relate to one another, the Nielsen Norman Group conducted a survey aimed at answering several questions. One of the main findings of the survey of 372 UX and PM professionals shows that duplicative work is frequent and generates confusion and inefficiency.

(via @nngroup)

How to best work with product designers as a product manager. Some product managers lack a nuanced understanding of product design disciplines, provide direction & feedback to product designers in unhelpfully limiting ways, and fail to build an effective partnership with product designers. Ed Park provides guidance on how PMs can effectively collaborate with and empower their Product Designers to design delightful customer experiences.

(via @taugrim)

Advice from product leaders: Five ways product and design can collaborate effectively.  Product and design can often feel at odds. Product is pushing to release very lean versions of features or products, often at the expense of an optimal user experience, whereas design is pushing for the best user experience at all costs. Allowing for that tension is critical; pushing for a good user experience from which the product team can also learn, and learn quickly, is essential. Aleeza Schoenberg shares five ways product and design can forge a strong partnership.

(via @MindtheProduct)

Managing Products in Entirely New Categories

The rise of the Outbound Product Manager: Equal Parts Customer Development & Design Partnership

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