Product + Design Resources: Volume #1
Product + Design Resources is a series of newsletters with – you guessed it! – product, design, and career resources that I’ve found helpful recently in my work as a product designer.
This is the first installment of Product + Design Resources, a series of newsletters with product, design, and career resources that I’ve found helpful recently. It’ll include everything from readings and podcast episodes to Twitter threads and more – with the goal of sharing what I’ve found useful, interesting, or important in my work as a product designer.
Readings
What is a Product Launch? Stages, Strategy, & Tools
Though the topic *seems* straightforward, this blog post manages to capture so many different aspects of the product launch process in a succinct way.
There’s a lot packed in here – so even if you’re comfortable with your product launch process, there are some great reminders in here on marketing, collaboration, making data-driven decisions, and more.
Some of my key takeaways include:
Understanding how to market your new features or product effectively, in a way that makes sense to the customer, is a foundational part of the launch strategy. An effective launch strategy should convey why the features or product is novel and timely, from the customer’s perspective. From the article: “It’s important to identify a way to communicate how your product solves customer pain points in a unique way.”
Have a method of keeping track of the ever-changing list of tasks involved in a product launch. Especially because successful product launches involve several different teams working together, it’s easy for tasks to slip through the cracks. Something as simple as a checklist can be a great solution for this.
After shipping, pair both qualitative and quantitative feedback to understand how the launch went. Involve internal collaborators wherever possible, as they can have unique insights from participating in the process. Feedback and data from this process can also be leveraged to improve future marketing or development efforts – so don’t discredit data beyond “what can be directly attributed to profit and loss.”
Podcasts
I don’t listen to podcasts very often, but Design Details is one that I tune in to from time to time whenever there’s a topic that particularly interests me. The recent “Better Remote Onboarding” episode, which came out mid-February, captured my attention since I’ve recently started the process of onboarding into a new remote job.
As the topic of remote onboarding is also fairly new, I haven’t come across many other resources for this – so this podcast, with advice from a product design angle, was super helpful.
Some of my key takeaways are:
Figure out what your onboarding expectations are. Checking in with your manager about their onboarding schedule (and expectations around when you’ll be fully “ramped up”) can help you feel more comfortable, as opposed to anxiously navigating through the ambiguity.
Prioritize networking and meeting people. As mentioned in the podcast, “get your name and your face out there.” I particularly liked the advice for introverts about pushing through the temporary discomfort of being *especially* social during your first few months – it’s a good reminder that it doesn’t have to last forever, but is important to do early on in order to set yourself up for success in the role.
Ask questions, reach out to others, and find someone (or multiple people) who can show you the ropes. Don’t be afraid to raise your hand in a meeting to ask for clarification; even more experienced team members might appreciate the opportunity to explain jargon or terminology. An “onboarding buddy” can also point you in the direction of which Slack channels to join and who to direct specific questions to.
On the topic of onboarding in general, I’ve also been reading through The First 90 Days by Michael D. Watson. I was reminded of a few useful tidbits when listening to the podcast episode mentioned above.
Some of those tidbits include:
Everyone you’ll be working with – your peers and manager, for example – is also in the transition process as you’re onboarding. “The fact that you’re in transition means they are too.” So anything you can do to accelerate their transition (like spending the time to introduce yourself and get to know them) helps everyone involved.
Invest time in learning the culture. The book suggests thinking of yourself as “an anthropologist sent to study a newly discovered civilization” (which is a funny, albeit fitting, way to think about joining a new team and company).
I’ve been doing a lot of research on best practices for onboarding — so I might do a longer-form post on my experience of remote onboarding to share all the other useful tips I’ve picked up along the way 👀
Twitter
Having recently gone through an extensive interviewing process with various companies, I learned early on that there are a lot of discrepancies. While most companies I interviewed with required a portfolio presentation with a few 1-1’s (which was my preference), there were plenty of other configurations, such as whiteboarding exercises, take-home assignments, and various other presentations. This inconsistency across interviewing processes adds a lot of stress to the interviewing process as a candidate, especially when you’re juggling multiple interviews at different stages.
I was excited to come across this Twitter discussion, which features a mix of personal experiences and preferences, best practices, and lessons learned from designers, design leaders, and hiring managers alike.
There are so many different approaches to the concept of a product strategy, and I thought this thread was a great (and concise) case study of Shopify’s operating principle of “swinging the pendulum.” Some food for thought 🍎
I’ve been on a whiteboarding kick recently, and FigJam has taken its place among my arsenal of personal productivity tools. I’ve been using it for everything from organizing thoughts and brainstorming projects to even serving as a resource repository for myself and others to use.
Because of my success with it, I’ve also been recommending FigJam to folks in my network as a great organizational tool. However, this tweet opened up some interesting discourse about what, if anything, should happen *after* the FigJam or whiteboard session. Whether you use whiteboarding tools for personal or professional use, there’s some good advice captured here.
In product design – as is the case with many disciplines at the intersection of creativity and technology – learning is never-ending. Granted, it can be frustrating, stressful, and anxiety-inducing, but it’s also what makes the work rewarding, satisfying, and fulfilling. This tweet is a great reminder of how to have a growth mindset (while fending off imposter syndrome) 🙌
I hope you found this newsletter helpful! If you’re interested in reading more, subscribe for free and share it with a friend.