Solvingproblems
As Product Designers, we should be able to understand the context we’re working in, so we can make decisions that are well-informed and feasible, and will ultimately create a meaningful product and experience.
Workday
A “typical” workday for me can consist of collaborating with designers, product managers, and engineers, from dailies and sprint planning to casual chats.
As a Product Designer, I handle multiple products at the same time so there’s a lot of switching around between tasks. I usually start off by gathering and analyzing all the information and help with further research for any missing pieces. Next, I create a logical, yet flexible path that I can present to the rest of the team based on user research the “discovery and strategy” phase. This includes solution concepts, priorities lists, goals, and interest diagrams.
Once that’s done, the lo-fi visual fun begins, as I start putting the pieces together to create the user flow (story -> task -> action -> result). This is followed by wireframes and conceptual mockups and testing if need.
At the end of the day, they all stand for the same idea. That this is a never-ending loop of learning and iterating
Through all my processes, my one constant is to ask the right questions before designing.
It frames the way I approach a problem and guides me toward the appropriate UX strategy and tools going forward.
The process
Usually, I start with understanding the problem. Follow that with the exploration of ideas that could solve a problem. And ultimately this leads to discovering a solution. Once I have a solution, I get into more fidelity UI design and I put it out there to monitor it, so I can learn and feed another cycle of understanding > exploring > shipping it.
There are a lot of different shapes that illustrate this process… circles, loops, diamonds, double diamonds, spirals… But at the end of the day, they all stand for the same idea, that this is a never-ending loop of learning and iterating, design is a never-ending process.
Cross-functional collaboration is very important to how I build products at any company. Product managers and engineers are encouraged to take part in research, define requirements, brainstorm, and validate solutions. I push the engineers to take part in user interviews, it’s super important that everyone understands the problem we’re trying to solve.
Design for the ideal solution
I don’t limit my thinking based on technical constraints.
It’s good practice to explore what the best experience could be, and I use that as a conversation starter with the team. Only then do we decide and compromise if needed.
Documentation
Creating a document at the beginning of the project outlining useful context, process, problem statements and links, decision logs, explorations, and next steps. Who knows, a team may pick up the project again, or find value from my research and explorations.
Reach out to other teams
This is especially important when I create something new for the company or have very little domain knowledge. I connect with colleagues and experts to get up to speed. I might even discover opportunities to help them through the project.
Share early and often
After extensive exploration, I pick two to three of my most compelling ideas and create medium-fidelity wireframes to share and get feedback on them from the rest of my team. I like sharing early because this gives me a chance to articulate my thinking process, invalidate false assumptions, and start conversations with my team.
I'm also a huge fan of finding ways to measure the success of a shipped product — whether that’s by observing user behaviour, sending surveys, analysing data, performing A/B tests, etc. It's a great way to gather valuable insights and inform product decisions.
My key principles
🤝Aligning my strategy with company goals and roadmap and ensuring smooth collaboration between myself and anyone involved in making the project successful – product managers, researchers, developers, end users, etc.
💡Developing a shared understanding and knowledge of the business cases and the users from all perspectives, putting together a powerful resource for the team to learn about the problem we're solving, resulting in better solutions.
⚡️Delivering the best possible UX and UI within the constraints, like deadlines and development capacity, bringing feasible solutions to the table as opposed to beautiful but massive projects that will remain in Figma forever.
📊Thinking long-term where possible by investing time in improving the team process and collaboration. As a designer, I love it when there's commitment to build a modular and scalable design system to facilitate development.
Wrapping up
In some cases, products will stop evolving after their first release. With others, I’ll continue improving them using feedback and testing as primary sources, and everything else will follow.
Throughout my career, I’ve been exposed to a diverse range of business models, development processes, and design challenges. This means I’ve enriched my experience with every project and team, and have developed a natural inclination toward building complex platforms, especially when working in agile remote teams.
Understanding and applying the principles of UX design opens up more possibilities. Being flexible and adaptable no matter the team or project ensures you get the best work done.
While this routine is subject to change depending on the project size, scope, and constraints, hopefully it provides a clear picture of how I tend to work and the steps I take to deliver my designs.