How 6 product designers tackle friction with product managers
Catt Small

Title: Product Designer

Company: Etsy

Industry: E-commerce

Tweet at her: @cattsmall

What do you enjoy most about working with a PM on a product’s design?

PMs have a strategic mindset with a heavy focus on where the product is headed. And that’s great because, as a product designer, I’m thinking about the user’s perspective and how that fits into the business line. So when we get together, it’s much better for the direction of the product.

What is the main source of friction when working with a PM on a product’s design?

The biggest source of friction I’ve found is giving designs the time they need to be refined, but also ensuring we’re meeting timelines.

There’s this attachment designers get where we have this amazing thing we’ve considered, but often this ‘okay’ state gets released. It sometimes is better to just get something out and then improve upon it. So it can be a positive, but you have to actually iterate upon things because sometimes those ‘halfway’ designs release and they never get looked at again.

What are some tactical things about product design you think all PMs can do to better communicate with designers?

PMs should go into projects without assumptions. Based on larger numbers, one can say, “Oh, on average this is how people are.” But when you talk to individuals and gather qualitative data on people’s reasoning, you realize the many different user segments. It can be harmful to think of your users as a monolith. Once you abandon that way of thinking you can become a better, tactical strategist.

Also, participate in a design sprint. After we did a design sprint for a project, everyone was just more excited about design — especially the PMs. You’ll feel a lot closer to your designers and find it easier to communicate.

What’s one communication strategy you think PMs should adopt?

Asking more questions of designers. The best PMs I’ve worked with have asked of me directly instead of planning for me, or speaking for me, or saying “Hey Catt, we figured out this thing, now make it look nice.” It leads to this feeling of autonomy and ownership.

In your opinion, a PM can make a product designer’s life easier by…?

Trusting them. Trusting that where product designers are coming from is a place of genuine care for the users. And trusting that we have a special expertise that somewhat overlaps with product management but has its own perspective and is just as important.

Check out Catt’s design work here.
['Tarif Rahman']
['Product Design', 'Technology', 'Design', 'User Experience', 'Product Management']