Product designers need to know the business strategy

OR: How to find the sweet spot better!

Image by Freepik

As a product designer, what is really the first step to take once a new product idea is introduced to you: I say it is to make sure you are clear about the proposed product goals and definition, as well as the business model the product would use. Here’s why:

The product idea is there to solve a problem in the first place and It is crystal clear that you should know what that problem is you are going to solve with your design.

You start observing the users .i.e. the core of the problem, and the whole design process follows. Then there may come that moment of confusion and frustration: You are doing everything right, all the persona creation and testings and data analysis and wire-framing, etc. but why some of your brilliant ideas that have even proven to be amazing solutions via user testings, get rejected, cut off or de-emphasized by the product manager/owner?

Because all you are looking at is the user and it is just one side of the whole business; an important one of course, but still not the whole.

Most probably, the product manager has already talked to the stakeholders and that’s how that rough product idea is to exist in the real world. Depending on the company you are working at, the value proposition might be very well-defined or catastrophically poor in arguments.

In most cases, there are many necessary and important questions that you’d notice have not been answered when you get to the phase you have to decide which feature to include and which to keep.

A product designer has to answer a “why” at every stage of her decision-making process. All those fundamental questions should be crisp-clearly answered once finalizing wireframes and starting with UI and higher fidelity prototyping.

You can sometimes skip looking for the answers if your goal is to deliver just “something fairly ok”. But if as a designer, you aim for perfection and delivering something that can hardly crack, you’d better ask for specifics in advance. Numbers, deadlines, reasons why this idea is good for the business and what they exactly want out of it.

What is not your business

Designers are definitely a valuable part of the product team and should be able to give opinions; however certain aspects of the product are beyond their expertise/knowledge.

You are not going to question how high the business has aimed regarding profit and whether it is realistic or not. What you need to know are mainly priorities and above all, why the need has been detected in the first place, how it has been considered as a potential profit-making product and what are the margins.

Preferably, you should be clear what the product does not want to do and why, and it is only possible through knowing what exactly it is after.

Let’s emphasize that it is not about doing what a product manager has to do. It is about having your mind clear on the business aspect of the project to help you map yourself in the design process and assist you with decision making.

We might have all heard about “ SMART’’ goals — Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic, Timed. This is not what we as designers have to worry about doing our best to set, but then there are some questions we need to ask, their answers are based on how well the company or the project has defined its goals.

If it has been set properly and smartly, it would be just a matter of one meeting with your product managers to get your head clear. If not, then you have to pull up your sleeves and try to find an answer through other vessels ( preferably in accordance with the product manager).

Remember that your mindset of the business goal is an inevitable integrated segment of your decision making while designing. Therefore, you can consciously use it to your benefit and make defendable design decisions or just let all run by your default presumptions and risk to be easily rejected. Even if you have a rough idea which features have to be there, always double check what is the business benefit in addition to the user value.

Image by Freepik

The questions to ask ahead

Let’s see what question you can ask and try to find answers for at the very beginning, and why:

1. Let’s assume that the product manager has clarified the value proposition of the product. You know the goals, but what are the objectives and their priorities? Knowing the objectives and how they are prioritized, can help you in lots of ways. How to continue with the ideation stage research, how to plan out features, etc.
2. Why priorities are set the way they are? Knowing the reason and the value behind them from the business aspect can help collect relevant data and assess the objectives from the user’s point of view. After initial research and some user tests, the team’s view on the objective can vary.
3. When is the ultimate deadline and what exactly is to be achieved/delivered by the date? Is a beta version going to be released? An MVP? Or the final complete product? Is there a point behind the releasing date? Is it already announced and firmly set? What are your potential margins as a product designer when it comes to the deadlines?
4. Where is the product going to end up and whom it’ll serve? Is it an app store commodity or software? Is it going to be a paid product or free? This way, you’d know how the business is thinking about benefit. And what is the profit model? Take the time to learn a bit more about the common profit and revenue models so you’d know the language to communicate with product owner/manager. It would level up your indispensability. You need to at least know the business model your company is using, and accordingly, you’d be able to translate it to design and behavior patterns. Once you are clear about the business metrics, you can go ahead and state it in terms of behaviors which is what we do as product designers.
5. Which competitors are more on the spotlight and what is the product going to accomplish that others are not? As you might have thought already, the competitors come into play long before the UX design competitive research. In many cases, they are one of the original roots of the idea being shaped in the first place. Knowing why the product owner is looking at certain competitors and how similarly/differently the company is going to make money from its competitors can be of use while deciding who to look for in UX research phase. Sometimes, you need to broaden your horizon way more than you originally thought.

If you know how the product strategy is set, you’d be able to use it to your benefit. Remember that strategy is not a To-Do list but is a spotlight that shows which activities are to be taken and therefore, knowing it in more details is beneficial for all sectors including design.

The strategic framework has to be an initial template for your UX decision makings. It does not limit you but opens up possibilities to look around for solutions in more diverse areas than initially expected and definitely the way to argue reasonably with the product manager and showing that you see the big picture fully.