Prodity: Product by Design

What is product discovery?

• It is the process of building great products
• It is about building the right product and ensuring we build the product right

Why is product discovery important?

• We need to address risks in product development

How do we do product discovery?

How does remote work impact product discovery?

• We need to think about communication

What are some examples?

What is design thinking?

• Empathizing
• Defining
• Ideating
• Prototyping
• Testing
• Implementing

Why is design thinking important?

"Design thinking gets us out of our normal way of doing business and opens the door to numerous possibilities"

How can we implement design thinking?

What are the most important aspects?

Links and mentions:

Design thinking framework (Nielson Norman Group)
Sprint (book)
Lightning Decision Jam

What is user research?

• A tool to understand needs
• A way to find out what you don't know

What are types of research?

• Interviews
• Focus groups
• Field studies
• Usability tests
• Surveys
• Questionnaires
• many more...

Why do research?

• To inform the design, the direction and gather insight
• "Be ready to be surprised"

Tips

1. Have a plan
2. Do it often
3. Doesn't have to be perfect
4. Adopt the mindset of a scientist
5. Have fun and get the reps
6. Volunteer to be on the other side to understand what it's like

Referenced in the show:
User Research Basics

Stop doing user research. Start having conversations.

How are we dealing with working from home currently?

How has working remotely changed workflows for product managers?

What are some tools and practices product teams are using to bridge the gaps?

What are businesses doing to adapt now and in the future?

Is this the new normal?

What is the ideal structure for product managers and product designers?

What about scenarios when you can't have the ideal like when there are too few product managers or product designers?

How should product managers and product designers combine forces?

How can product designers better collaborate with product managers?

How can product managers better collaborate with product designers? 

What are some keys to success?

Shoutouts:

• The User Experience Team of One (book)
• Ermal Fraze, inventor of pop-top soda can

What is product design?

Who is a designer?

What's the difference between web design, visual design and product design?

What makes a good product designer?

How can you get into product design from other design fields?

How can you get your company to buy into product design?

Why is thinking about design important to save costs and work for your business?

What is product management?

What makes a good product manager?

What is the difference between a product manager and a product owner?

What is the difference between product management and project management?

Why is it important to know the difference?

How can we incorporate the right mindset in order to avoid the build trap or becoming a feature factory?

• Break Free of the Feature Factory
• Escaping the Build Trap

How can we get our organizations to begin to buy into product management?

In our first episode, we (Kyle and Eva) take a moment to introduce ourselves and talk about how we each got into product management and design. We also dive into various topics including our favorite moments in product, challenges in product management and design, how we define our roles, and where we see the industry going.