When I first heard about the PM3 Summit, I thought it was an event focused exclusively on Product, since that has always been the school's natural focus. Not that this is a bad thing, quite the opposite, but because I thought that the event in particular would end up being more focused on this market as a whole. Since I don't work directly with Product, I thought that I might not benefit 100% from its content in some way. That fear of investing in something and ending up feeling like a fish out of water. However, I remained interested anyway, because I already work as a Product Designer and I know that even though in practice they are very different areas, there is a lot in common and many moments where we end up speaking the same language.
There is no denying that Design and Product have always gone hand in hand, even though many people do not want to admit it at times. Both need to talk about metrics, research, testing, innovation, value and, of course, experience.
I even feel that there has always been a hidden feud in the area between designers and producers, where one seems to instinctively want to stand out more than the other, with the need to gain merit for themselves within the company and for each of the deliverables. Something like a silly competition where one wants to feel more important than the other in mere superficialities. And for me, that never made much sense, you know?
The team has delivered a new feature . Let's give the squad a round of applause . And then someone thinks deep down with that unsolicited intrusive thought:
But in the end, does the merit go to the Product, Design or Technology team?
Some people say that it was the product that planned everything, prioritized, sold and defended the idea, aligned and delivered. The designer can claim that he brought a thousand hypotheses and a refined strategic plan, studied several scenarios and validated with people to arrive at the best possible result, the one that would be most satisfactory to the end user. And there are also those who will undoubtedly pass the ball to the developer. After all, what's the point of thinking without executing? The dev goes there and implements everything that was defined, commits, refines, tests and delivers.
In the world of inflated egos, this discussion might even make sense. And many people do think this way, even if they won't admit it while reading this article. And that's okay. But let's be honest: Neither of them would deliver as efficiently if the other parties weren't there, firm and strong, doing their usual job. In the end, it's not about who delivers first or who performs better. It's about how one supports the other and does such high-quality work that it helps the other to reach the same level without much effort.
The (re)connection between areas
When someone from Product comes up with a new task where everything is already very clear, with a complete briefing and full of relevant evidence, this makes the job of the lucky designer who will take on and start this task much easier. There is nothing worse than taking on an empty task that doesn't even have a description, nothing elaborated beyond a specific person's desire. “TASK XPT-1 — Change the home page”. Why? For what? What is the purpose? What is the context? And why change something that already works? Just because someone thought it made sense? The designer's job should not be about fulfilling desires, but rather about validating what makes the best sense in terms of user experience.
Likewise, when a designer delivers a well-designed prototype , with well-justified business rules, well-worked research and foundation, in addition to a detailed handoff with the appropriate technical specifications, this also means that later on the developer will not have to make much effort to understand what needs to be implemented. No misalignments, misinterpretations, Chinese whispers, no games. Just a summarized manual with all the main instructions on how to bring that project to life.
And finally, when the developer completes a task, providing visib conclusion of paytm database ility of everything that was done in the smallest details, along with possible technical barriers, testing and validating with the team to ensure that everything is consistent with what was pre-defined and still delivers clean code, so that other developers have no doubts about what was done there to continue the work with quality and good performance, all of these in turn are actions that already help not only the developers, the designers and also the producers. Everyone working together [to reach a common goal.
And that's the thought and impression I had when I heard the first few minutes of the PM3 Summit introduction. An event that brought exactly this approach that has always been very clear to me. Talking about Design and Product and other areas of Technology as one thing. Without segregating them, without putting labels on them. It's about connecting and reconnecting all these points.
I then had the opportunity to receive an invitation to participate in this event and I can only be grateful for the amount of knowledge I was able to acquire in such a short time. It was nothing more and nothing less than 9 hours of selected content in a single Saturday with great guests from the market talking about Design and Product with moments of Coffee Break, Happy Hour and networking among all participants and panelists.
Going further
this vision that connects multiple areas very well was the talk about Strategic Connections: Data, Tech, Design and Products. I found it very interesting because it was a roundtable with people from different roles within the areas and there was a very rich debate about how these connections align with each other in these types of strategic issues of day-to-day work in Product squads.
One of the interesting points raised was that it is essential to focus on communication and maintain constant alignment between areas and squads so that action can be taken when necessary. Companies that are more mature in their processes will make an effort to actually implement this. It is a bit about not being afraid to “talk to the person next to you”, making employees practice a culture where everyone has a voice to give their opinion and take action when necessary. Something that we do not always see in practice.
If only one area speaks for itself and believes it is self-sufficient, things probably won't evolve as they could. When you bring together people who think about all stages of the journey, mapping out common points of improvement and distributing them to the right people who will have all the know-how to work on these issues, only then will you have a vision of the whole. Something that a single person and/or area acting alone cannot achieve.
The panel also talks about how we are hired to solve problems. This applies to any area, especially Technology. A designer, for example, is not hired just to work with Figma. This person needs to connect countless hypotheses with possible solutions until they reach a final prototype in the tool. Therefore, Figma is just a means to achieve this great goal. In the same way, a designer should not only consume Design content and events. When working with Product, it is necessary to understand the context in which one is inserted and start consuming interconnected content that surrounds this main theme in addition to their own function.
Knowing this, if this designer works in a digital bank, he needs to start learning more about finances, start taking a greater interest in how these processes unfold behind the scenes and to what extent he can understand how they work as a whole. Even if he doesn't reach a very technical level due to a lack of knowledge of different specializations, he is still well informed enough to be able to give his opinion and be able to connect and engage other people when necessary.
Therefore, a good professional today acts much more with the perspective of knowing how to deal with tribes and contexts different from their own and is interested in exploring themes and visions different from their own.
The larger your repository of references and experiences without your own professional biases, the greater your ability to make this type of strategic connection between areas within the company.
Therefore, it is interesting to note that our next step in career development is very much focused on this trend of being a multidisciplinary professional, not only seeing our own space and limitations, but also seeing a little further in order to make more strategic decisions involving other professionals along the way, whoever they may be. Connecting to add and bring even more value to all future business definitions.
I would like to thank the PM3 team for inviting me to participate in this enlightening event and I strongly recommend that you participate in more moments like this where we are invited to debate topics that do not focus solely on our own area of expertise and go beyond the bubble so that it is possible to reach this level of alignment with people from other areas in common.
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