Some aspects to consider for UX Designers when working with Product Managers.

1. Working with
Product Managers
@philsuter

2. Me, me, me
● Proud dad & brewer
● UX Lead at Scout24
● Trainer at Product Academy
● Too old for TikTok
● Find me on LinkedIn
Open Peeps by Pablo Stanley
Phil

3. Missions &
Responsibilities

4. Understand customer needs, our
business, the market and our
capabilities. Prioritize accordingly.
Define and measure success. Be a
facilitator.
PM Mission

5. «A PMs job is not to make all
the decisions themselves. A
PMs job is to make sure that
good decisions get made.»
—Somebody at NY Prod Conf

6. Understand the customer’s needs, the
business and technical basics. Design
feasible solutions* that serve the
needs and the business. Advocate for
user centricity.
*Solutions, not interfaces ;)
UX Mission

7. «Effective designers have
the ability to recognize
constraints and the
willingness and enthusiasm
for working within them.»
—Charles Eames (paraphrased)

8. Involve whoever* makes sense.
This means:
● PMs: It’s YOUR responsibility to talk to the right people to come
up with priorities and ways to measure success.
● UXDs: It’s YOUR responsibility to talk to the right people to come
up with the optimal solution.
Everybody in a team
* Yes, this includes stakeholders

9. “Let’s vote on
everything and let the
team decide.”
“I don’t care what
others think, this is
my decision.”
Decision autonomy

10. Understand constraints
and make decision that
factors in all relevant
information.
Decision autonomy

11. Trust

12. Empathy
Always strive to understand the other
person’s challenges.
They are as real and as valid as yours.

13. Trust isn’t binary
Trust is a gradient. If we treat it as
"I either trust you completely or
not at all" it's going to be really
hard to build trusting relationships.

14. Trust is contextual
«I trust my husband with my life,
but not with my laundry.»

15. Challenge & Trust
PMs, you can challenge design
decisions – but don’t try to overrule
them.
UXDs, you can challenge prioritization
– but once it’s decided stick with it.

16. Transactional Trust
in Teams

17. Inspiring Goals
& Autonomy
Transparency &
Accountability

18. (lateral)
Leader
Little
Inspiring Goals &
Autonomy
Littel
Low Trust
Team
Transparency &
Accountability
A lot A lot

19. (lateral)
Leader
Inspiring Goals &
Autonomy
Growing Trust
Team
Transparency &
Accountability

20. (lateral)
Leader
Inspiring Goals &
Autonomy
Growing Trust
Team
Transparency &
Accountability

21. (lateral)
Leader
Inspiring Goals &
Autonomy
Growing Trust
Team
Transparency &
Accountability

22. (lateral)
Leader
Inspiring Goals &
Autonomy
High Trust
Team
Transparency &
Accountability

23. (lateral)
Leader
Inspiring Goals &
Autonomy
Unmatched Trust
Team
Transparency &
Accountability

24. (lateral)
Leader
Inspiring Goals &
Autonomy
Unmatched Trust
Team
Transparency &
Accountability

25. Everything is a
product

26. ● Understand your product’s KPIs
● Understand and discuss ROI
● Understand how you make money
● Understand the mechanics of the market
● Discuss trade-offs openly
● Discuss risks
Talk business with PMs

27. Ask yourself and discuss:
● What’s the worst thing that could happen if this goes
wrong?
● How much time and effort should we invest to reduce
uncertainty?
Risk vs. Speed trade-off

28. How much do we
invest to reduce
uncertainty?
What’s the cost of
this going wrong?
Sm
artZone
Stupid
Zone
(m
oving
too
slow
)
Stupid
Zone
(too
m
uch
risk)
High
A lot
Zero

29. Start the discussion here
Design Products, not Screens
and not here

30. Process: The Double
Triple Diamond

31. Problem Space Solution Space
Understand Synthesis/
Prioritize
Ideate/
Design
Validate/
Implement
Diverge
Diverge
C
onverge
C
onverge

32. Problem Space Solution SpaceDesired
Outcome
Outcome
achieved

33. Strategy Space Problem Space
Solution
Space

34. Strategy Space
Input
● Market trends
● Technology
● Competitors
● New technologies
● Group strategy
● ...
Output
Goals/Objectives
Goal
Get an overview of
all potential topics
Goal
Decide on what is
important now
Activities
Gather all input
Activities
Prioritize ruthlessly

35. Problem Space
Input
Goals
Output
Approaches
Goal
Understand all facets
of the problem
Goal
Hypothesis of best
approach
Activities
Research: user, market,
competitors etc.
Activities
Evaluate and prioritize
opportunities and approaches

36. Solution Space
Input
Approaches
Output
Goal reached
Activities
Ideate & design
Activities
Test, Implement & Release,
Measure
Goal
Possible
solutions
Goal
Achieved Key
Results

37. Strategy
Space
Problem
Space
Solution
Space
Dir. Prod.
PM
UX
Dev
Fully involved or
responsible
Can be involved

38. Problem Space Solution Space
Understand Synthesis/
Prioritize
Ideate/
Design
Validate/
Implement
Handoff HandoffHandoff

40. Product
Strategy
Problem
Space
Solution
Space
Dir. Prod.
PM
UX
Dev
Fully involved or
responsible
Can be involved

41. ● Know the PM‘s and your mission – and make sure
you agree about it
● Make building trust your priority
● Talk business with the PM
● Design products, not screens
● Know that you are the link between the problem
and the solution space
To summarize

42. That’s it. Let’s discuss!
Stay in touch: linkedin.com/in/philsuter/