The success of a product is definitely not just because of the success of product design.
Seeing that the QQ signature of a friend who made a product was “User experience is related to the survival of the enterprise”, I think he must have a lot of professional pride. When I first started working, I also put a lot of emphasis on user experience. However, in the past few years, I have made more products and have stayed in more companies. Whether it is my own experience or the development of other products in the industry, I understand a truth: the reason why a product can be successful , By no means just because of the success of product design. It also benefits from factors such as company resources and promotion, and many companies are not product-oriented.
In the past few years of work, I will write a work perception every year. This year’s work perception is mainly about the work of product manager.
1. Without a product manager, the product experience may not be too bad
I once saw a saying that product managers must do their job well, because even if the position of product manager is missing in an Internet company, the company can still operate normally, but if it lacks technology or design, it won’t work. Although there is a sense of ridicule, but it does have its truth. There are two reasons behind this statement. The first is the rapid development of the domestic Internet, and there are more companies, so there is more demand for the position of product manager. The second is that the level of development of the Internet in China is also quite high, and product competition is fierce. This is a good thing for practitioners, because everyone has cases that can be used for reference. To put it more bluntly, the difficulty of work is reduced. Sometimes I Just thinking that if a company wants to make products, even if there is no professional product personnel, the experience of the product will not be bad according to others’ copy. Moreover, in some companies, the role of the product manager is to follow up the project. If other departments can do their work well, then there is really no need for products. However, this optimal state is basically impossible, so you don’t have to worry about losing your job.
I have to admit that my view is a bit extreme. Some people may think that I underestimated the work of product design. So I would like to make a special point. I do not deny my above point of view, but what I said above mainly refers to those product managers who have no thoughts and mess around all day.
2. The work content of the same product manager is different
There are several types of product managers in the industry. Although the title is the same, the focus of the work is different (if you are a recruiter, you should also see from your resume from the resume what the other party is doing). From a different perspective, there are front-end products, back-end products, and data-oriented product managers. Some are mobile products and some are PC-side products. If you don’t have the right to actively choose when you first enter the industry, After working for a period of time and have a certain understanding of product design, I should consider choosing the direction I like. Many companies have a lot of requirements for recruiting product managers. They need to understand technology and design. Although there are too many skills and not overwhelming, it is still quite difficult to be proficient in everything. It is precisely because the specific things that everyone does are different, so the training of everyone’s abilities will be different. The front-end product manager may be more inclined to interaction and design. As the back-end product needs to communicate with multiple departments, personal communication skills and Logic will be well exercised. As the saying goes, no one is perfect, so are product managers.
3. The value of product managers is not improved by making more products
There is another point to tell everyone that the job of product manager is definitely not to increase their own value by making more products. There are many products made, and the case is rich, but I think that if a product manager wants to do a good product, he needs to have deep research in this direction. First, rely on the understanding of competing products in the industry, and second For the long-term use of the product, there is also the experience gained in the process of making the product. Some products require a certain background knowledge of the product manager, such as health products, which requires you to understand some health knowledge. Although these are personal accumulations of product managers in addition to product skills, they will prompt the product managers to have some ideas of their own and thus design some new products. The deeper the understanding of user needs, the more beneficial it is for creating new products. To make a good product, the accumulation of product managers is more important than product skills.
4. The product is also divided into stages, and different product stages are different for the product manager
The same type of product has different degrees of development in different companies, and it is also different for the personal development of the product manager. Take Weibo as an example. When the domestic Weibo was just started, everyone was learning from Twitter. The functional structure and product form of the product have been basically determined, and there is not much room for the product manager’s personal ideas. Later, with the gradual development of Weibo, the product manager digs out new needs, and will gradually build new products on top of the most basic functions. When an industry has matured, the product model will be relatively mature. Take the game platform as an example. If your company’s game platform has been developed, then you can conceive deeper products, such as a player community. If the company is building a game platform from the ground up, it needs to start with the most basic services, such as recharge and customer service. Usually we say that there are hierarchical divisions of user needs, and phases of product creation. The reason why we need to mention this is because it is related to the personal work willingness of the product manager. The reason for this situation in the industry is also caused by two factors. The first is that the company’s target market is blank. The second is that the company has other products as resource support. For example, many music websites have begun to make game platforms. NS.
5. The personal thinking of the product manager is very important
In your career, it’s hard to say that you will always make a certain type of product. If you are a social product, you cannot always do social networking, do mobile products, and you cannot always do mobile products. First, because of objective conditions, first The second is also because of personal subjective choices. It is very beneficial for the product manager to develop a good working style and way of thinking in the work day by day. Suppose you have built a game platform on the PC side, then you just changed the medium on the mobile side. Although you need to understand some platform features due to the limitations of hardware conditions, you have accumulated understanding of user needs and judged products during your work. The knowledge of function priority standards and so on is applicable to all products. Although the products made are different, the routines for making products are the same. Take the bus stop sign as an example. You can think of it as a product. When you see it, you can analyze its user groups, the role of the bus stop sign, try to figure out the needs of users, and the disadvantages of the existing bus stop sign. If it is not good, how to optimize it, etc. This is the way the product manager thinks about the problem. Good product thinking can ensure that you feel like a fish in the process of product design, but it will not be directly beneficial to tapping user needs.
I have seen an article on the Internet criticizing Internet thinking. The article says that Internet thinking only matches the steps of traditional enterprises with the process of product development. The number of IT practitioners turning to traditional industries to start businesses is also on the rise. Many Everyone has achieved small achievements, which proves that the personal thinking cultivated by the IT profession is also applicable to other industries and will do well in other industries. Regardless of Internet thinking, the main thing is personal thinking.
6. The influence of the product design process on the product
A clear workflow will make the process of making products more rigorous and clearer. I personally value the workflow very much, but gradually I will find that a good process will make the process of producing results smoother but not It does not mean that there must be good results. The interaction model, page flow chart, etc., a lot of work done by the product manager mainly has three functions. One is to make his own thinking clearer, the second is to promote everyone to reach a consensus in the internal discussion meeting of the product, and the third is to Facilitate communication with other departments. I believe it is better to have a standardized process, but if there is no clear process, as long as you have a clear idea and can clearly express your needs with other departments. Of course, to be able to do this also requires the product manager to have a certain degree of work experience and have a clear understanding of the product logic to be done.
7. There is intersectionality among various positions in Internet companies
Recently, I have a strong feeling in my work that the responsibilities of various positions in Internet companies will have a certain degree of intersectionality. Operations, products, design, and technology can all give each other some reference opinions on each other’s work (the most overlapping should be Products and operations, in the process of certain product design, products and operations require close cooperation). The most sad reminder is the product. Whether it is technology or design, there will be some ideas about product design. If a product manager is inexperienced or logical thinking is not good enough, personal propositions in the product will be easily refuted, so Rigorousness and comprehensive consideration of issues are very important in product work. Although both products and designs have their professionalism, this professionalism exists in the process of product creation. Since the user of the product is human, people naturally have the right to judge the result of the product based on their personal perception of use.
Personal feelings, perhaps because product managers always need to deal with colleagues in other departments. As the working hours gradually increase, they will also understand the work content of other positions, and gradually become interested in the work content of others. , So you can also learn the knowledge needed for other positions in your free time. Moreover, in the requirements for product managers, other work experience in addition to product skills will also be required. Even if you are not proficient, you can learn about it, and product managers often play the role of project promoters. Knowing some other aspects of knowledge will facilitate communication at work.
8. Numbness of product managers
When we have grown from a user to a professional product designer, you have been working in this industry for a long time, and you can roughly guess their intention behind this when you see a product. Gradually, you will feel that many things seem to be possible. Understandably, at this time, the opinions of the inner body as a user can easily be concealed. I don’t know if you have any feelings, that is, there will be a kind of numbness to the product after working hours. This kind of numbness mainly refers to the loss of your own judgment on the product, especially when the competing products in the product industry you have made are similar, and the existing products have been proven to be no problem, there will be a feeling in a short time. The product has no illusion of room for improvement. Fortunately, this numbness is temporary. After all, I am still a user, and I have my subjective perception of the product.
Advise everyone to calm down and re-examine their products when they are busy at work. Although I strongly disagree with plagiarism from competing products, I have to admit that sometimes the revision of competing products can indeed inspire my own products.
Okay, that’s it!
