Product Management and User Research: A Symbiotic Relationship

Today, the roles of Product Managers (PMs) and User Researchers (URs) are intertwined more than ever in a fast-paced and user-centric digital world. They strive to end at the same point — creating product success while meeting user needs — but coming from opposite and complementary directions. A grasp of how Product Management and User Research interrelate is therefore core to anyone inclined to excel in either the profession or move from one to the other.

Overlapping Roles and Responsibilities

Product Managers coordinate product development. Far from the common belief that a PM only manages the cycle of product development without building anything, their role extends to defining objectives, planning the strategy of the product, and looking over the entire lifecycle from idea to launch and monetization. To get this right, they make decisions on features, set timelines, and ensure that the product meets both the needs of the user and the business.

On the other hand, User Researchers focus on the actual understanding of the users. They structure qualitative and quantitative research to gain insights related to user behaviors, needs, and pain points. Their work informs product design and development such that products developed should be functional, delightful, and intuitive for users.

But these are very distinct roles and there is a lot of overlap. PMs and URs alike want to understand user needs and champion the user within their organization. They both also revolve around data-driven decisions and are highly involved in close cooperation with designers and developers to help shape the product. The overlap would lead to symbiosis: cooperation in which each of the entities will, therefore, end up having a more successful product.

Notice the findings from Najafi and Toyoshiba (2008) where two case studies are displayed to show how UED was integrated with Agile development. In one where the study involved a consumer-based web project, good collaboration with the UX team and the product management team resulted in an increased user-friendly and marketable end product. Continuous user research and testing by the UX team enabled the product manager to take user-informed decisions, along with meeting business goals. The collaboration also helped in the continuous prioritization of features and iteratively improving the product to establish clear value brought with integrated user research in product development.

The next case study was on one project in which the Agile team didn’t include the UX team. This lack of integration resulted in communication difficulties and design flaws; thus, the final product was that which had not met the user requirements. The feedback from user research was missing in the product development process, and therefore this resulted in an output that would be viewed in a bad light.

“The User Experience team participated in the two projects, namely the Falcon Project and the Razor Project. While Agile methods in development helped both projects to adapt to the changes in market requirements, it was the ability to do user research — to understand what users want and expect from a product, what features are needed by users to reach their goals — that really impacted the release date, development resources, and overall success of the products. The benefits of involving the User Experience team in the Agile process and practices of UED outweigh the costs of potential effects on product release dates. UED practices are by their very nature iterative and naturally complement the iterative nature of Agile development. However, successful integration with the User Experience team requires full cooperation and collaboration with all cross-functional team members. Understanding of what the users want and expect from the product results in features being prioritized in the product backlog. Consistent user testing and iteration of designs ensure that the product is developed to meet the needs of its users.” (Najafi & Toyoshiba 2008)

Improving Collaboration

To ensure that PMs and URs can collaborate effectively, organizations can implement a few best practices:

1. Integrated Teams: Encourage cross-functional teams where PMs and UXRs work together from the beginning of a project. This ensures that user insights are also integrated into the product strategy from the start.
2. Common Goals: Set shared goals, those that will get everyone’s attention shifted to satisfaction on the users and successes for the business. It helps to have the PM and the UXR working on a goal with a unified vision.
3. Communication: Keep in touch through frequent, open communication. Make sure that the team holds regular meetings, joint workshops, and makes use of collaborative tools to keep everyone up to date.
4. Mutual Respect and Understanding: Inculcate the feeling of mutual respect, where others see the expertise of both the PM and UXR. All this should lead to a better teamwork approach and innovations.

Conclusion

This paper has discussed the relationship between Product Management and User Research: a partnership that, when leveraged effectively, one can safely predict, will lead to the creation of products both user-friendly and commercially successful. Enabling product success and the notion of building a collaborative organizational culture are two great reasons that practitioners in both disciplines can and should learn from each other. So, whether you are a PM or a UR, consider this leveraging of insights and methodologies in the general direction of career growth and product excellence.

References: Najafi, M., & Toyoshiba, L. (2008). Two Case Studies of User Experience Design and Agile Development. Agile 2008 Conference, Toronto, ON, Canada, pp. 531–536.