You're facing resistance from product managers on UX design. How do you navigate their lack of understanding?

Start by enlightening product managers about the value of user-centered design and how it affects the success of products to overcome their reluctance to UX design. To demonstrate the advantages of excellent UX, present facts and case examples. Offer to lead collaborative sessions where you may showcase important findings and show off user testing. Stress the connections between UX enhancements and business objectives, such as higher customer satisfaction and engagement. It is possible to overcome their misunderstanding and promote cooperation by creating a bridge through open communication and common goals.

To navigate resistance from product managers, I focus on building a common ground by aligning UX goals with business objectives. I present data-driven insights, user research findings, and clear examples to demonstrate the impact of UX on product success. I also encourage collaboration through workshops or design sprints to involve them in the design process, fostering understanding and buy-in.

When you run into resistance regarding UX design, it can be helpful to start by explaining its true value to product managers. Similarly, if a product’s UX is poorly designed, users may struggle to find what they need or become frustrated with the process, leading to a negative experience.

Navigating resistance from product managers on UX design: Educate: Hold workshops and presentations to explain UX benefits. Collaborate Early: Involve them early in the design process. Communicate Benefits: Align UX improvements with business goals. Use Metrics: Provide data to support UX decisions. Show Empathy: Understand their concerns and build trust. Quick Wins: Implement small, impactful changes to demonstrate value.

Educate on UX Benefits: Explain how good UX design improves user satisfaction, reduces costs, and boosts business outcomes. Show Data: Present case studies and metrics that demonstrate the positive impact of UX on similar projects. Align with Goals: Connect UX improvements to the product managers' goals and priorities. Involve Early: Engage product managers in the UX process from the beginning to foster buy-in. Communicate Clearly: Use straightforward language and visuals to explain UX concepts and decisions. Highlight User Feedback: Share direct user insights and feedback to underscore the importance of UX design.

Aligning UX objectives with business goals is crucial for gaining support from product managers. For instance, effective UX design can reduce development costs by minimizing the need for frequent revisions and adjustments. When users find the interface intuitive and easy to use, they're more likely to adopt new functionalities quickly, which can accelerate product success and generate revenue more efficiently.

Exactly! Aligning UX with business objectives helps product managers understand its impact. Here are some additional ways to improve alignment: - Map UX metrics to business KPIs: Improved usability can lead to higher conversion rates, higher customer lifetime value, and lower support costs. - Create a shared road map: Collaborate with product managers to include UX milestones in the product roadmap, ensuring a user-centric approach. - Provide competitor insights: Highlight how companies with excellent UX outperform their competitors in terms of customer satisfaction and market share. - Use storytelling: Present real-world user pain points and success stories to strengthen the case for UX improvements.

In addition to inviting the PM to participate in UX moments and activities so they can understand and empathize with the work, I would also seek to attend more strategic meetings to better understand what is being demanded of the PM. Together, we can build something that meets both UX and PM needs.

Collaborating with all of them is one of the main ways to clear their doubts and make them understand. By also inviting them to work with the team, we can make them understand the usability tests and the results of the research. This will make the product designers understand the UX process and will help them to plan the project work more effectively.

Involve product managers in the UX design process Encourage open communication and feedback Foster a culture of mutual respect and trust

Absolutely! Close collaboration ensures that UX and product management work towards a common goal.. - Co-create user personas and journey maps: This allows product managers to understand the "why" behind design decisions. - Hold a joint brainstorming session: Encourage open discussions in which both teams can contribute to product improvement. - Involve project managers in usability testing: Seeing users struggle or succeed with a product firsthand can alter perceptions. - Use cross-functional stand-ups: Regular touchpoints ensure that UX considerations are front and center throughout development. - Describe UX insights in business terms: Convert user pain points into opportunities for product growth and retention.

Use product managers' terminology and frameworks Connect UX design decisions to business outcomes and metrics Highlight the impact on user engagement and retention

Yes! Product managers are motivated by measurable results, so framing UX in terms of business impact increases its appeal.. - Conversion Rates: Demonstrate how a streamlined checkout process can help reduce cart abandonment. - Retention and Engagement: Explain how improved onboarding boosts user adoption. - Customer Support Costs: Show how a well-designed interface lowers the need for support. - Time-to-Market: Emphasize how UX research avoids costly rework later. - Revenue Impact: A better experience leads to increased customer lifetime value. By speaking their language, you can close the gap between UX and business strategy, making UX an essential component of product success.

Showing the projects that you have already finished, will help the product managers get an idea about how is your work's quality and how it caught the audience's attention. As we all know, the best way to show something is by evidence, and showing the reports of UX changes, design processes will help you to gain the trust of them to get the best outcome for the product.

Share case studies and success stories of UX design improvements Highlight the positive impact on user experience and business goals Celebrate joint wins and reinforce the value of collaboration

1. Conduct before-and-after comparisons. - Demonstrate how the redesign improved key metrics. For example: - A more efficient checkout process reduced cart abandonment by 30%. - A simplified navigation structure improved user retention by 25%. 2. Present real user feedback. - Provide user testimonials demonstrating how design changes improved their experience. - "The new layout makes it so much easier to find what I need!" 3. Highlight Business Successes - UX improvements in a SaaS product resulted in a 15% reduction in churn. - The optimized mobile experience increased conversions by 40%. 4. Make it visual. Use heatmaps, A/B test results, and analytics dashboards to visually support your argument.

It is very important for product managers to consider resources, and if you don't take them into account as a designer, you will be easily left behind. You must ensure that they understand that the user experience aligns with the main goals of the product. What does this mean? It means that your work in product design and user experience should be done with the help of product managers, considering the limitations and resources, and not against their direction. This will make them more confident in working with you.

By presenting these smaller, manageable changes and emphasizing their benefits through testing, you demonstrate how UX can be seamlessly incorporated into the product development process. This helps product managers view UX not as an obstacle but as a valuable component that can be integrated in a way that complements and enhances their existing strategies.

We must champion user advocacy within our organizations. This means consistently representing the user's voice in meetings, discussions, and decision-making processes. By positioning ourselves as user advocates, we can ensure that user needs are always considered, even when there is resistance. The design community should support and celebrate those who advocate for users, recognizing their efforts to create more user-centric products.

Navigating resistance from product managers requires a blend of empathy, communication, and education. First, approach the conversation with an open mind, understanding their perspective and challenges. Use storytelling and concrete examples to illustrate the impact of good UX design on user satisfaction and business goals. Collaborate closely, inviting them to user testing sessions or design workshops, so they can see firsthand the value of UX. Be patient and persistent, building trust over time. It's about fostering a partnership, showing that UX and product management share the same end goal: creating the best possible product for users.

To ensure that UX considerations are consistently prioritized, integrate UX milestones into the product roadmap. This approach demonstrates a commitment to user-centered design and ensures that UX activities are planned and resourced appropriately. By making UX a standard part of the development process, you can reduce friction and ensure that user experience is always a key consideration.