Holistic product thinking: The first step in making effective, scalable products.

Holistic product design is the new buzzword in the product space. But, while it certainly is a buzzword, there’s a reason why. While we once were siloed in our worlds of UX, UI, Development, CX, and so on — we are now meshing together in ways that empower individuals to approach products holistically. Hence, why so many companies are switching from specialist roles to product design roles.

While holistic product certainly involves understanding the different pieces of the pie that make up a product — it doesn’t stop there.

So what is holistic product design?

Well, there isn’t a straightforward answer. As much as I would love to give you a detailed definition of what it is and what it entails — that would be impossible. It is less of an act and more of a way of thinking.

In that sense, I would define holistic product design as:

Holistic Product ho·lis·tic prod·uct | \ hō-ˈli-stik ˈprä-(ˌ)dəkt \

Thinking about a product as many parts interconnected and integral to create the greater whole.

We begin designing holistically when we shift from seeing products as a single output to seeing the smaller pieces that connect and create the larger whole. When we make that shift, we can create better, more harmonious products.

To give an allegory: If a product is an orchestra, the individual parts make up each section. From strings to brass to the conductor — it is all essential to perform the piece. The product (or orchestra) cannot act in symphony if we only focus on our section.

Exploring the product ecosystem

The first step towards holistic design is understanding the parts that create the greater whole. What is listed below is by no means an exhaustive list. However, this covers the foundational building blocks that comprise product ecosystems.

The interface

If you’re a designer, you’ll be well acquainted with this portion of the product ecosystem. The interface is the portion that connects our solution to our users. It’s how users interact with the product or service that we’re providing. Now, you may be thinking “interface” is entirely about UI, which could very well be the case for some product teams. However, I challenge you to question all of the possible items that may fall under this category. A great example of this is in soft-product.

The user

While the user is undoubtedly the one who is interacting with the product, they are also a layer in the product ecosystem itself. As you may be aware, the user plays a significant role in shaping the overall outcome. They shape the features, value offerings, and interactions that make up a useable and valuable product. When creating a product, it is essential to ask yourself what emotions, needs, and wants play a role in your product and how it grows. Remember, your user is dynamic and ever-growing. It is essential to continue to grow with them.

The environment

The environment in which your product will interact can be a significant component of the product ecosystem. Phygital experiences are becoming increasingly common as the digital world blends with the physical one. The world of XR demonstrates this exceptionally well. When designing for XR, considering the user’s physical environment is as essential as creating the digital one. Factors such as space, objects, light, and even other people begin to play a role in usability instead of merely button size.

The future

Understanding the current state of a product ecosystem is one thing. However, understanding and moving towards a future state is another entirely. Therefore, it is critical to consider the future you are moving towards when making current state decisions. For example, running into scalability issues because of poor planning can halt product growth and create ripple effects that cost time and money.

The platform

When mobile became a dominant medium, we slowly realized the importance of designing for mobile and desktop. These shifts from medium to medium will continue to ring true as more and more technology is developed. Therefore, it is crucial to consider the various platforms that a user may use to interact with your product. They may even use more than one. Consequently, you should consider how a user will interact with your product based on the platform and how each platform will interconnect and create a seamless experience.

The market

The market is also a considerable part of the product ecosystem. Staying up to date on market demands and competitors will help you identify opportunities, risks, and gaps in your product offering. Even the markets that influence your primary market will play a part in your product success.

The business context

The other well-known part of the product ecosystem is the business context. The business context spans a wide range of topics that will be important to get a firm grasp on. For example, business goals, growth strategy, objectives, and resources will directly affect the timeline and goals of the project.

Development

The other piece of product that you should consider is development. Again, it is essential to evaluate limitations, resources, and time before making product decisions further up the roadmap.

How to lead a product vision holistically

Chances are, if you’re reading this, you’re working on a product team with multiple people from different departments with different objectives. To successfully take a holistic approach, you’ll need to lead with a holistic approach. This process may already be in place if you’re working on a team that follows modern-product principles. However, if that isn’t the case, you’ll need to put on the hat of both guide and leader.

Guiding and teaching your team

Helping your team take a 1000ft view

Helping your team identify the product’s actual scope will be critical in getting buy-in on a holistic approach. The unfortunate truth of the matter is that modern-product practices can feel slow. It doesn’t focus on outputs that allow for features to be crammed into a backlog and pushed into the product. This lack of immediate focus on deliverables may make specific individuals concerned about speed to market or a limited value offering. These concerns must be combatted with the tested truth:

We have to slow down to move fast.

There’s a reason the tortoise and the hare is a popular story. It is true in life, and it is true in modern-product. The faster we go now, the more mistakes we will make down the line. These cause rework, unhappy users, and ultimately cost the business. So slowing it down and taking a methodical approach will allow time and thought to do the right thing. Now, this isn’t to say we try to get it right the first time. Instead, we try to get it as close to right the first time. Then we iterate until we hit our target.

A great way to do this is to have a holistic product workshop. In this workshop, you will help your team visualize the entirety of the product ecosystem and identify both dependencies and relations. A great example of this is the human skeletal system. I’m no doctor, but I know enough to draw a correlation. A great example of a dependency is how the fingers require a functioning forearm to move with dexterity. An example of a relation is how our arms help balance us when we walk. While we don’t depend on our arms for our legs to get us to where we need to go, our arms play a role in balancing and reducing the amount of energy we need to exert to walk correctly. Teams parallel this in many ways. Communicating the importance of a systems focus will help your team prioritize viewing the product as a whole instead of focusing solely on their objectives.

Systems that move in sync

Have you ever seen those old cartoons where an animated skeleton is walking, and inevitably something happens to cause it to lose one of its bones? It keeps walking and fumbles around until it backtracks to find its head. Then the bones somehow get out of order, and it has to keep rearranging items until everything is back on track.

Product systems are quite like that. Everything in a product ecosystem supports the greater whole. When these systems are in-sync, it allows for agility and nimbleness. When they get out of sync, it can cause the entire system to come to a screeching halt and backtrack until things get back in order.

For this reason, it is vital to have a firm grasp of the entire system throughout the product development lifecycle. To accomplish this, you can:

1. Have meetings with each team each sprint — this allows you to gain insight into other teams’ backlogs and objectives. If something is misaligned, you’ll be able to raise concerns before any significant work has been done.
2. Have regular cross-functional meetings that realign and iterate on the long-term direction of the project. Has one team gained key information that affects the project vision that the rest isn’t aware of? This is an excellent time for insights to be shared and considered as the greater picture is iterated upon.
3. Continue to meet with users and listen to user feedback. Looking at real-world data can be a great first-warning system when something is out of alignment. Did users see marketing information that promised them something in-app and then submit a complaint when they didn’t include that feature? Are users dropping off because load times are through the roof due to development not being able to support scalability? These are key insights that can provide data-backed indicators that alignment is needed.

Collaborative leadership

It doesn’t matter if you’re a junior in your role or a director — you can take leadership. Taking leadership may look different depending on your role in the project, but it is leadership nonetheless. You’re not here to give orders, dictate a process, or make decisions about the product. That’s a boss. Good luck getting buy-in with an authoritarian approach. Instead, take the path of collaborative leadership.

Leaders don’t work in silos. They pull people together and make sure everyone has a voice. They can facilitate a discussion and help those voices find harmony. Without a leader stepping in, everyone speaking up can quickly become a jumble of words and conflict. However, when you can make everyone feel listened to and like their opinion matters, you will help unite and guide people in a single direction. Leaders don’t lead from the front and push their ideas forward — they work with everyone to find the right path. This approach is the difference between conflict and progress.

If you can effectively take leadership, you will have a much easier time guiding people towards a holistic vision.

Too many cooks in the kitchen or a passive head chef?

Bringing in more people doesn’t always mean creating more confusion. While there is truth in this statement, it can also hinder progress. Therefore, it is crucial to bring in more people upfront when it makes sense to do so. A great example of this is establishing cross-functional parity.

When there is a skilled “head chef” who can provide clear roles for people to operate in, the number of cooks in the kitchen becomes less of a hindrance and more productive. When working with a large team, especially a cross-functional team with competing priorities, it is crucial to communicate clear expectations.

Chances are, you’ll be facilitating cross-functional meetings. To successfully do this, it’s crucial to communicate the following:

• The purpose — what is the objective of this meeting, and why is everyone involved?
• The expectations — what are specific teams or individuals supposed to bring to the table?
• The limitations — without clear lines, meetings can turn into opinion wars. Are there certain guardrails you can put in place to limit the number of opinions to sort through? These guardrails can be anything from scope limitations to resource allocation.

You will still have conflicting ideas and opinions to work through. You will need to take the seat of diplomat and guide these in a specific direction. You can do this by:

• Asking questions — ask leading questions to get people’s thoughts to where you want them to go or identify any knowledge gaps.
• Getting information — this is to help the best direction come to light. Give everyone a chance to share the information they have.
• Mediate conflict — it is all too common for two individuals to get into a debate during these meetings. Monopolizing the conversation causes everyone else’s ability to come to the podium to shrink. These are also often counter-productive. Try to mediate and diffuse these by redirecting the conversation. If there is a subject that is consistently creating conflict between teams or individuals — TABLE IT. Follow up with them individually to understand their concerns and approach. Then, try to build a bridge between the two. The key here is to find the balance between productive and unproductive conflict.

Last but not least, make sure this is an ongoing effort. Consistently provide opportunities for everyone involved to regain alignment, share information, and express concerns. This effort will help support the system moving in sync and avoid more significant conflicts down the road.

Tools to get started

While holistic product is less of a method and more of a way of thinking, you can utilize specific tools and methodologies to support and communicate your approach.

Building a product-ecosystem source of truth

You more than likely won’t have all of the information you need upfront. Defining the product ecosystem will require you to do some research and fill in the blanks. Remember:

• Don’t be afraid to get your hands dirty. Learn a bit about other departments and disciplines if you need to.
• Meet with other teams and departments to understand how they see the product ecosystem.
• Not sure where to start? Ask people whom to ask; chances are, you’ll find someone who will point you in the right direction.

Yes, more workshops

By now, it may seem like we’re beating a dead horse, but working towards a solution together, often yields more buy-in than attempting to dictate a direction. First, however, I recommend you come with information in hand.

In Conclusion

I know it may seem daunting, especially when conversations begin to far exceed your team or department, but trust me when I say it is worth it. Holistically approaching a product requires you to have a firm understanding of how each piece of the product pie works together. Once you do that, you can anticipate opportunities, mitigate risks, minimize rework, save time, save money, and hit better goals faster. Remember, teamwork makes the dream work. 😉