- Product managers and designers perform two very different roles. Their success, however, is bound to one another. Both need to operate collaboratively and productively for either to achieve success.
- The product manager has essentially set the goal, set the expectation, set the policy. However, they have very little power over design, or engineering, or business. They may not be involved in hiring any members of the design engineering or business team.They may not be involved in their review, or their promotion, or their salary action. They may not be involved in the process of firing anyone. So, while they bear responsibility, they are in essence without power.
- Alternatively, the designers are responsible for translating that product requirements document into reality of working from the product idea that the product manager has brought forth and playing a critical rolein bringing it into a real product.
- And in that way, the designers own the user experience. The product manager owns and writes the product requirements and goals. They lead the product requirements document, roadmap, cross-team communication, and sometimes even the budget to help get the product built.
- In contrast, the lead designer will own the user experience strategy. What user experience do we want to create, both short term and long term, to help deliver the best overall product experience?
- However, the lead designer will also likely do user research and come up with requirements. Their research can help the product manager figure out what the final product requirements are. And design will also be tactical and determine how to meet those requirements.
- The product manager will work frequently with every team, not just the lead designer, to shepherd the product. So, the product manager will haveto balance everyone's needs. A good lead designer will have a basic understanding of the products business context as well, so that they're not working in a vacuum, and that they can help the product manager understand trade-offs for different design decisions.
