When I first started making products, the former product design leaders always liked to ask me to refer to how other websites did it. Although they said it was learning, I always felt that this was copying. I thought it was only because we were a small company that we would refer to those products with very large users when we made products, but after I joined a large company, I would first learn about other products when I found out that the company was making products. , Write a competitive product analysis report. Now the third company also has the same behavior. As the understanding of the industry gradually becomes deeper and deeper, it is found that this is a common phenomenon in the industry, so I want to share with you my own ideas about each other in product design. The perception of imitating behavior. In particular, the imitation in product design includes many levels, and what is mentioned in this article is only the imitation in product form.
1. Why imitate
Why imitate, the prerequisite of course is that there is an object to imitate. The development of the Internet has been relatively mature today, and there are many types of products. Even if you want to make a completely innovative product in the model, you can still find reference objects in the product form. In the product form, you may have used the same layout method, but the effect is different.
Imitable objects are the foundation. In addition, there is another very important reason that the product manager does not know what to do. There is no major in Internet product design in universities, and many practitioners are halfway through. Moreover, this work relies more on soft capabilities. If you talk about hard capabilities, I’m afraid I can only say that it is writing documents or drawing prototypes, but both the Office for writing documents and the Axure software for prototyping are very easy to use. Learn it. More importantly, if you want to make a good product, it does not depend on your ability to write documents or draw prototypes. On the other hand, this job requires relatively high requirements for practitioners and requires a wide range of knowledge, and a lot of knowledge can only be accumulated gradually in the work. This is why many people say that product managers cannot be regarded as fresh graduates. Of the students who served as the reason. The main difference between soft ability and hard ability is that there are more uncertain factors in the production of work results and the proportion of individual subjective factors will be larger. When we are making a product, if you do not have enough experience, it is difficult for you to imagine the shape of this product. Even if you imagined it roughly, maybe you are not sure, you are not sure. By analyzing the existing products, we can design the product form more quickly and understand the functions required by the product. Maybe other products are not so successful, but since it already exists and is accepted by more people, it can at least prove that it is not very big. The error (this can also explain why we are willing to refer to those products with a large number of users). Therefore, the imitation of product managers will avoid some detours, and will also enable themselves to find solutions quickly.
On the other hand, what I have to say is the status quo of the industry. The Internet industry has given birth to many wealth myths, so it has attracted the envy of many people. Many traditional companies are also focusing on entering the Internet. Some are extensions of old businesses, and some are expanding new businesses. Most are not idealistic, but seeking to go public to make money. Many traditional companies recruit some product people from Internet companies. Innovation is inherently difficult. In this case, product managers are often under pressure to produce results quickly, and the product strategy itself is consistent with other people’s , What the product manager has to do is the existing product itself, and it is easier to imitate at this time.
2. The benefits of imitation: improve the persuasiveness of the product and understand the function of the product
People in the industry often talk about using data when making product judgments, but sometimes data is often unreliable. And making products is a highly humanized thing. If you rely solely on data, the product development space can easily be constrained. There are also companies that rely too much on data and fail. Relying on the data, the choice of the product is naturally very clear, but not all the time can come up with reasonable data, and sometimes the focus of dispute is on a small detail of the product form, and there is no reliable data to support it. . Without data, what we have to rely on is the product staff’s own judgment. There is a thing called product feel. This term sounds very imaginary, but this quality of product staff is truly reflected in actual work. Although some product managers feel very good about their products, it is easy to dispute among product team members by relying on personal judgment. But no matter how big the difference is, there must be a result. In this process, sometimes we will take other people’s products for reference, and in the process of analyzing how other people do, we also discover the advantages and disadvantages of their products, and find out for our own product design. Basis also improves the persuasiveness of own products in team communication.
If you go to a new field to make a new product, you first need to plan the product’s functions. It is not easy to think clearly about the product’s functions and the situations that users may face during use. Looking at other products before making the product can help you understand the function of the product, whether it is for the completeness of the function or the logical level, it is very beneficial.
3. Disadvantages of imitation: limiting thinking
I think the disadvantage of imitating is that it restricts thinking. I believe that many product personnel have a feeling that the product form they design is very similar to the existing products. When you have seen other people’s products, it is easy for people to fall into a mind-set, especially when you see competing products, so just copy a copy according to others. The product manager’s approach is because of laziness and others. It is also because my thinking is restricted. The thinking is limited, so the best result that the product manager can achieve may only be the optimization of the user experience level. And in most cases, the improvement of products at the logical level is not from the analysis of existing products, but from the needs of oneself or friends around.
There are some experienced product managers who have worked for a long time and summed up some criteria for judging products. However, the result of product design involves too many factors, and even the same type of product is likely to be different due to a small change in demand. So I personally feel that apart from the equipment standards and UI design standards that must be followed, there are very few standards in product design, and everything can be changed according to demand. However, many product personnel do not calmly analyze user needs when designing product forms, but stick to some of their so-called principles. I personally call such product people static product managers. There are indeed some such products in the industry. People exist.
4. How can we not imitate?
For this question, I was looking for an answer for a while, but maybe because of my lack of knowledge, I haven’t found a good way yet. Let me just talk about some of my thoughts. If you don’t want to imitate, you need to be careful and loving about the product. Perhaps everyone understands this, but it is very difficult to do so. In addition to professional skills, more importantly, it requires product managers to be genuinely interested in and passionate about the products they make. Although copying other people’s products will not cause major problems, it is also difficult to achieve major breakthroughs. I have always felt that if you are not interested in the product, then the achievement of the product may always be limited to the level of user experience.
Whether you are using other products or designing your own products, there is one thing you need to do, that is, empty yourself and treat yourself as a user. When you find that there are shortcomings in the user experience and functions during use, think about it from the perspective of the product. Method to solve the problem. At work, our thinking always needs to switch back and forth between users and product personnel. There is no perfect product. The success of a product can only mean that it meets the needs of some people. The attitude of exploration is very important.
I don’t know the answer to this question, and I don’t think there is a shortcut. The ideal situation is to find a suitable method and method for the process after we have clarified our purpose.
