MOVE it! PM & UE moving up – “from planning to design workflow.”
The title sounds a bit frustrating. In fact, what I want to express is to allow more interaction between PM&UE, so that everyone can work in a complete process more clearly , efficiently and joyfully!
Look at the catalog first:
- part1 A story leads to the embarrassment of PM&UE cooperation
- Part2 The problems and solutions of the current process
- Part3 workflow node outline
Before starting the discussion process, I want to tell a story first.
In the past, PM planned to work with UE to build a sea-crossing bridge. PM took the lead in repairing from the east coast to the middle of the sea.
Repair, repair, PM completed half of the bridge, and then across the foggy strait, rushed to the west bank UE to shout:
“Hey~~My half has been repaired~~~You can start repairing the other half~~~~ Work harder~~~~ The bridge will be opened to traffic in N days!”
Then, UE started to repair, braved the fog and immersed in hard work, worked overtime for N days, and then N days later…
Crooked and misaligned…
After working hard for several days, whether it is PM or UE, they will secretly curse cheating at such a scene~
*The above story may be a bit extreme and exaggerated for theatrical effect, and only represents the personal experience of the stage. Please don’t mind PM & UE students.
But I think this story can describe some of our typical workflows more vividly:
step 1. PM planning requirements document + wireframe——(PM repaired half of the bridge)
step 2. Give the UE a brief communication and confirm the schedule——(Call to UE across the strait)
step 3. UE burying its head in the production page——(UE burying its head in repairing its own half)
step 4. Finish the page and send it to PM——(N days later.. Acceptance… The two sides are not aligned….)
step 5. Modify, send to PM, modify, complete——(rework of cheating father)
There are some problems with such a process
Problem one is not clear enough-insufficient communication
“When the bridge was being repaired, there was heavy fog on the sea. Everyone worked hard and communicated too little.”
——PM&UE is basically a black box operation. The planning process of the PM is not visible to the UE, and the design idea of the UE is not known to the PM. So at the moment of acceptance, all the problems buried by poor communication always broke out.
“PM has completed half of the bridge before letting UE intervene, and after that, there is no clear node to ensure that the bridge is not crooked.”
——The process is relatively simple and rude, without clear steps and nodes. UE has been working passively in chaos.
Problem two is not efficient enough
Poor communication eventually led to the failure of PM expectations and design drafts during acceptance. Or simply go wrong and lead to revisions\subversive revisions, delaying the schedule.
After the PM bridge is repaired and changed, it will make it very embarrassing and difficult for UE to build the bridge.
Question three is not happy enough
“Breaking the fog” work + “cheating father” results should not be a good emotional experience
So what should we do? ——The principle of the solution
How to be clear + efficient
·Principle 1: Communicate in advance
Before starting the bridge repair, PM&UE communicated in advance, UE raised its own concerns, UE also understood PM’s planning ideas better, instead of informing UE after PM’s own half was completed, so that UE would also be prepared.
·Principle 2: Streamline demand
From the beginning, streamline the scope of demand control (whether the bridge is compatible with cars, trains, and bicycles), and use unanimous goals to filter out meaningless attempts.
·Principle 3: Segment confirmation
Develop clear “project phases” and use “segment confirmation” to control errors. If PM&UE can divide the process into several confirmation points when repairing the bridge, and look at each other regularly, there will be no big difference at the moment of docking.
·Principle 4: Full communication
Maintain active communication with small steps and fast running throughout the whole process, always disperse the fog, so that we can see where the “zombies” come from, and where should the “peas” be planted?
How to have fun
Think of ideas together : creativity itself needs a relaxed and pleasant atmosphere as the foundation to inspire inspiration, such as brainstorming, and more relaxed and pleasant feelings will be generated in the process
Organizing photos : Taking photos is a souvenir of work for oneself, and it is a lot of fun.
After talking about the principle of solution, the key point is here
1 Start-up phase
Understand the background
Discuss goals and scope
Confirm target
2 Creative stage
Generate concepts
Evaluation concept + proposal
Confirm concept
3 Production stages
Confirm strategy and function
Confirm feeling
Confirmation copywriting (slogan)
Confirm wireframe
Confirm layout
Confirm the atmosphere
4 Correction stages
Evaluation of a draft
Modification iteration
carry out
Confirm online effect
Due to space reasons, it is inconvenient to elaborate on each node, only a few key nodes:
- [Understand the background] stage, it is necessary to figure out who is the “decision maker”, and obtain the approval of the “decision maker” when [confirming the target] and [confirming the concept].
- Everyone’s ideas have to be put forward at the beginning, not halfway through.
- Use the previously confirmed [target] as the criterion for the adjudication, rather than the personal preference of the “decision maker”.
- [Creative stage] is a stage full of fun and challenges, and we often get confused and skip directly to the [production stage]
- The strange thing is that [creative stage] sometimes is firmly controlled by PM, and sometimes PM will deliberately kick UE (maybe I can’t figure it out, or I’m too lazy to think about it), the solution is for everyone to come together to create ideas~
- [Confirm online effect] It can ensure that the previous efforts will not be deformed after going online.
Thoughts on the workflow itself:
Process is not a constraint, but a guide.
Don’t be intimidated by the series of nodes above, thinking that it takes a lot of time to complete one by one. In fact, many nodes can be combined and completed in one communication.
The process is like a memo, reminding us not to miss some important things.
The process is more like a travel bag list, reminding us what to bring, and according to the level of travel, there are different levels of bag list “packages”, for example, when you go to the company, you only need to bring your wallet\keys\mobile phone\work card and go to Tibet. The list of bags is more, such as medicines\down jackets. If you ignore the importance of the “bag list” (work flow) and forget to bring down jackets when you set off, then your trip to Tibet is destined to be trembling all the way.
In the same way, we also need to use different “bag list” packages according to cases of different levels and urgency.
Another function of the process is to efficiently coordinate the time of PM&UE and optimize the order of work. For example, in the [production stage], if the content module of the PM still needs time to be determined, as long as the steps of [Confirm Feeling] and [Confirm sLogan] are determined, UE can conceive the overall atmosphere design.
The above is just my personal opinion, which is subject to continuous correction in practice, and I look forward to your corrections and suggestions.
