Product design
Designs a digital product as a whole and decides with product and engineering what to build, to achieve measurable changes in what people do and in the business.
What it deals with
A product can be easy to use and still fail because no one needs it, it can't be built, or the business can't sustain it. Digital product design looks at the experience and at those decisions together; it is not the industrial design of physical objects.
Principles
Outcomes, not features
Progress is measured by what changes in people's behavior, not by how many features ship.
Continuous discovery
The people building the product talk to customers every week to decide what to do next.
Four risks before building
Before development, the team checks whether it is valuable, usable, feasible and viable for the business.
Iterate with data
Each release is a hypothesis; metrics and experiments show whether the change worked.
Decide as a team
Design, product management and engineering choose together, balancing what the person needs, what the business wants and what the technology allows.
Applications in design
Use it like this
Define the outcome you want as a measurable change in behavior and test several ideas with prototypes before committing to development.
Avoid
Measuring progress by features shipped, or designing only the interface of something no one has confirmed is needed.
Don’t fall for it
Data tells you what happened, not why: pair metrics with conversations with real people.
Especialidad
Wearable design
Designs devices worn on the body, such as watches or bands, for a body that moves.
Theories
- TheoryEmotional designWhat we feel when we see and use an object changes how we judge it, how much we use it and whether we keep it.
Methods and tools
- ArtifactOpportunity solution treeA tree-shaped map that links the outcome you want with people’s needs, ideas and tests.
- ApproachJobs to be doneUnderstanding what progress a person seeks in a situation and what they “hire” a product for.
- ProcessLean StartupBuild the minimum, measure how people respond and learn, in short cycles.
- ApproachLean UXDesigning in short cycles of hypothesis, testing and learning, as a team and with little documentation.
- MethodKano modelClassifies a product's features by how they change the satisfaction of the people who use it.
- MethodA/B testingShowing two versions to random groups and measuring which one works better.
Connections
Builds on
Authors and works
- 2013
Jeff Gothelf and Josh Seiden
Brought lean ideas to digital product design: hypotheses, small experiments and cross-functional teams.
- 2016
Andy Budd
Explained why Silicon Valley companies were hiring "product designers" instead of UX designers: a hybrid of interface work and UX fundamentals, backed by research, product management and design systems.
- 2017
Marty Cagan
Described the product team, with a product manager, a product designer and engineers, and the four risks it must check before building.
- 2019
Josh Seiden
Defined an outcome as a change in people's behavior that creates value for the business, and proposed planning by outcomes rather than deliverables.
- 2021
Teresa Torres
Described continuous discovery as the building team's contact with its customers, at least weekly, in pursuit of a specific outcome.
Sources
Original sources
- Cagan, M. (2017). Inspired: How to create tech products customers love (2nd ed.). Wiley. (Obra original publicada en 2008).
- Cagan, M. (2017). The four big risks. Silicon Valley Product Group. View source: Cagan, M. (2017)
- Gothelf, J., & Seiden, J. (2013). Lean UX: Applying lean principles to improve user experience. O'Reilly.
- Seiden, J. (2019). Outcomes over output: Why customer behavior is the key metric for business success. Sense & Respond Press.
- Torres, T. (2021). Continuous discovery habits: Discover products that create customer value and business value. Product Talk LLC.
Secondary sources
- Budd, A. (2016, February 3). The industrialisation of design (or why Silicon Valley no longer hires UX designers). Andy Budd. View source: Budd, A. (2016, February 3)
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