Intro
I currently work as a Product Designer at an enterprise, Software-as-a-Service company in the InsurTech industry. I have had the opportunity to contribute to and make an impact on numerous design projects at this company that I am very proud of! However, as a result of signing an NDA, I am not able to showcase many details of my design work from this company here. Putting my problem-solving skills to work, I decided to document a written account of some of the most important lessons I've learned while working as a full-time Product Designer for the first time.
1. User experience isn't just about the users
To me, user experience is about prioritizing a variety of user voices so that designers can come up with solutions that best meet their needs. However, there are also always business needs that need to be highly considered.
Prior to this job, I had a pretty unclear idea about how product designers fit into organizations among other teams. I had never even heard of a 'roadmap' before. Now, I understand that although insights from users are crucial and should absolutely be prioritized, the business has goals of its own too, which may affect which problems get solved first and how much time is allocated to be spent on those problems. User needs and desires can also help inform and validate business goals.
2. Input from cross-functional teams at every stage of a project is crucial
There have been moments in my job where I have spent a lot of my time designing a particular feature or screen, just to be told in a design review that the feature cannot be built because the time it would take to build it would not be worth the cost, or because it doesn't quite match how the product owners and product managers envisioned customers using the product. In order to reduce any misalignment of goals and wasted time, I have learned to collaborate closely with software engineers, PM's and PO's by reaching out to them as soon as I have questions about anything, and by scheduling design review meetings to check in and make sure everyone is on the same page.
3. Just because I am still learning doesn't mean I can't come up with valuable and novel ideas among my more experienced peers
Being the youngest and most novice member of my Product Design team, it has sometimes been nerve-wracking to share my own feedback in fear that I am "wrong" or not understanding the whole picture enough to provide truly valuable input. However, the more experience I have gotten, the more I have been able to have confidence in myself to speak up. I began to volunteer feedback and ideas even when I was scared that others may disagree. I have come to realize that there is no such thing as "wrong" feedback, and even feedback that doesn't end up getting used still has the potential to spark conversation and other ideas.
Additionally, encountering rejections of ideas and designs as a product designer is very common, and a person truly must have a low ego to recognize that any negative feedback received is not about them, but about the design's inability to meet user needs, which is what is most important at the end of the day.
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4. It's important to be a little vulnerable in order to get closer to achieving the best user experience
As I mentioned in the last point, it can be a bit daunting to speak up about questions or concerns I have with the current software or other team members' designs. However, something that has eased my nerves is thinking about myself as an advocate; it is my responsibility to stick up for the users who are not in the room in order to create the best user experiences for them. This includes bringing up important issues like inclusive design and accessible design, too.
5. Occam's Razor
I think it goes without saying that convoluted designs can confuse a user and hinder the overall user experience of a web page or app. However, during this job I discovered that, ironically enough, it is possible to create designs that unintentionally end up being convoluted in an attempt to create non-convoluted design. This is where Occam's razor is relevant; often, the most simple solution is actually the best solution.
For example, something that I came to learn is that although message banners can provide context, directions and system status, too much messaging can in fact be more confusing and even annoying for users, thus degrading the overall user experience. In the case where I am compelled to add a lot of words and messaging on a web page I am designing, I have learned to try to figure out how to improve the user experience of the structure or features on the page instead to make them more intuitive.
6. Sometimes it's not possible to follow through with the most "ideal" process
Working as a product designer at a company is very different than working on projects as a UX student. In my school projects I had the complete freedom to follow the most ideal design process I could think of to solve the problem at hand with little to no limitations, and this is not the case working as a designer on professional projects. As a result of time, budget, and technical limitations, sometimes different approaches have to be taken to work with the limitations while still managing to avoid design or tech debt.
One such example of a design process not following my initial "ideal" plan was that I once had to forgo conducting user interviews and instead use knowledge of user needs from PO's and customer service as a result of the users being inaccessible or difficult to get ahold of.
7. Presentation skills are a big part of effectively advocating for user needs
Something my design classes from college got right is that presentations are incredibly important. I've learned that presenting design work not only has the power to allow stakeholders to more easily understand the value of what I've been working on, but also gives stakeholders a space to raise interesting questions or provide feedback coming from their unique point of view. Creating simple, concise and visually appealing presentations can facilitate conversation, which then allows for user needs to be met more effectively.
8. Sometimes it takes weeks -or even months- of iteration to get it "right"
Something I had never encountered before working as a product designer at a company is the flexibility to iterate on designs as needed. In my previous experiences during school, my design process was more cookie-cutter, like, "I'm going to be doing this research method, then making wireframes, then making prototypes, then testing with users, then tweaking as needed and that should be good enough!" However, my current job taught me that iteration is extremely important at any stage of the design process in order to design the best user experiences. Essentially, it's completely normal to have to review a design with stakeholders multiple times until no one has any unanswered questions or concerns with the design, or to go back to do more research when you've realized you just don't have enough understanding of user needs while you're creating wireframes. Even after designs are shipped, it's common to revise them later too. A design is never "finished", just "good for now until a user or business need changes or comes to light".
Conclusion
My design experiences from school prepared me well for my product design job, but there were still so many things to adjust to and learn that I would have never expected. Though I've learned a lot so far, I know that the more hands-on experience I get (and mistakes I make!) in addition to lots of reading about user experience design, the better of a designer I'll grow to be.