Why product knowledge is vital for designers
When looking for information about product knowledge, we mostly find that it’s a very important skill for sales and customer support teams… which makes total sense! Today I’m going to talk about product knowledge from another point of view: the design team’s.
When I joined Doctolib as a Product Designer, I was told that I would be working on a pretty precise scope: within the team working on services for patients (our B2C users) I would be in charge of patient identity and security topics.
As a patient myself, I have been an end user of Doctolib for a long time, so I was thrilled and eager to learn all about my new mission. But I was also wondering if I would ever hear about other parts of the product, or work with other teams: those working for healthcare professionals (our B2B users), or even those working on our internal tools (like customer support tools).
I quickly understood that the answer was yes, and more than I could imagine.
To create good services for patients, we have to understand their needs and expectations of course, but also the way healthcare professionals work, because they are the ones actually delivering patient care.
Our B2C and B2B services are very often interdependent, and teams have to collaborate to create consistent and useful services for all our users. That’s why I spent a lot of time discovering all of Doctolib’s products when I joined the team, and not only my own work scope.
When it comes to understanding how a product works from top to bottom, we can see that some products are more complex to master than others.
Let’s first look at why this is the case, and why it’s necessary to know your products well to make informed design decisions. Then, let’s see a few tips on how to easily improve your knowledge.
I- Why are some products more complex by nature?
Accessibility
When you work on digital products in general, you must make them accessible and inclusive for all users. This one seems obvious, but accessibility in the digital age is a big challenge, especially when it has not been included from the start (accessibility “by design”).
Various users
Different types of users may use your product. For example, lots of products have both a “public” side (for B2C users), and a “professional” side (for B2B users) that need to be worked on in parallel.
Legacy features
Legacy features are old features that are not up to date with your current standards (like a design system), and often not well known (people who worked on them may have left the team without documenting them).
Professional and industry-specific products
Those products will require a particularly good knowledge of the professions and sometimes the help of experts.
Sensitive markets
Some products are in especially sensitive markets, treat sensitive data, or are in a sector where there is no room for error. They must meet the highest standards of rigor, security and legal compliance.
International products
When the product is available in several countries, you will be dealing with different languages, market specificities, local regulations, local culture, etc.
At Doctolib, we deal with 3 different healthcare markets: local rules vary, patients have different expectations, practitioners have different ways of working… which explains why each country requires specific features.
International teams
If you work in an international team, you probably work in English even though it may not be your native language. You will need to be more careful and make sure everyone is on the same page.
II- The usefulness of good product knowledge
At Doctolib, we work in a large design team: around 60 people, and almost half of them are product designers.
Each designer creates and modifies features every day and the products evolve very quickly. In big or in small teams, designers need to stay updated on the state of the art and what other designers are currently working on.
Why?
Because we may face some challenges in our projects.
Work on features that impact multiple parts of the product
A change we want to make on our side may require changes elsewhere in the product, so that new elements work properly and do not break what already exists.
Work on features that are have several sides
At Doctolib, offering a new service to patients almost always involves thinking about how it will be managed on the practitioner’s end. It will be the case for any product with multiple interfaces for different categories of users.
Work on similar features
Sometimes, designers from various teams are building similar UI or UX elements for different parts of the product. Knowing about it is key to re-use the same components and improve product consistency.
Dealing with this may be easier if you are the only designer or working in a smaller team, but you still need to be aware of what components already exist in your product to reuse them when appropriate.
Work with several people on the same thing at the same time
If several designers are modifying the same page or the same component, we need to make sure we keep up to date with all the changes, not just our own.
Work on legacy features
We may encounter features that no one knows very well. We have to understand them and identify potential impacts before changing anything. Product managers can bring precious help!
III- How to improve your product knowledge in your organization?
First, you can explore on your own.
1. Use your product!
The best way to understand how your product works is to try it yourself!
If you just joined a new team, it’s a good way to ramp up your product knowledge quickly. If you are not new but are less familiar with some part of the product, you will benefit from discovering them.
Spend time in your product’s test environment.You can try all the scenarios you want without fear of breaking anything.
You might even find a bug nobody noticed…
2. Search and read documentation
If you need further information on a feature, look for documentation about it.
- Why was the feature made?
Look for user research reports, to understand why the feature was made this way, what problem it is solving, what the users said about it… - How does this feature work?
Read functional or technical specifications, to better understand how the feature works and be aware of what is not always visible in test environments (edge cases, error states…). - How is the feature performing now?
Consult data analysis to understand how the feature is performing live and discover potential issues that could need to be addressed.
3. Explore the design files of your team
A good way to keep up with ongoing projects is to visit your fellow designers on their design files. This works even better if you work on collaborative tools like Figma!
4. Get the latest news on your product
If your company regularly publishes product news or release notes, don’t hesitate to read them. You will see how the new features are described and presented to end-users by marketing teams.
The same goes for product or roadmap meetings at your company level. Take the time to attend, you might discover some interesting news.
Then… talk to your peers.
1. Be an active part of the synchronization process
- You have a product question?
Ask it publicly if you can, for example, in the messaging channel of your design team or product team. The answer you will get may be useful to others. - You are not sure you understand how a feature works? You need information on a feature that is currently being designed?
Organize a quick meeting with the designers and product managers in charge, so they can present it to you. - You heard that another team is working on the same feature?
Identify together the risks and the opportunities of working on the same feature. When projects are completed, make sure everyone is on the same page and that design files reflect all the combined changes.
2. Know your users
Knowing the product is not only knowing about the features, but also knowing about your user’s needs and expectations.
- Participate in user research as much as you can
When you conduct your own research you obviously learn a lot. But do not hesitate to volunteer for note taking during user tests or user interviews in other teams.
If you’ve heard of interesting research from other teams, you can also take a look at their research reports. Finally, if you are working on a new topic, look for previous research that might help you. - Take some time to check reviews on your product
User reviews on app stores or on Google can help you spot pain points and opportunities.
Having a good product knowledge will definitely have a positive impact on your work. A holistic approach will help you identify opportunities and risks, but also existing constraints, even for small projects. It will improve your collaboration with all stakeholders, including product managers, developers, and designers from other teams.
We all know it can be hard to stay on top of things in fast-paced environments, because we don’t always have the time and the opportunity to take a step back. Let’s make room in our agendas, and take time to learn!
