A PM and a designer walk into a bar... that's a joke on it's own! Trying to plan and collaborate across different teams whilst creating a cohesive culture can sometimes feel like a pipe dream, especially with functions such as design and product management that compliment each other. Backed by extensive research, Atlassian's Sherif Mansour, Product Manager, and Alastair Simpson, Head of Design for Platform, Mobile and Comms, share practical tips on how to take this relationship to the next level. You will walk away with ideas and techniques that can help improve the PM-Design relationship, help build world-class software and of course, a few laughs as they explore some anti-patterns along the way.

1. A Product Manager and a
Designer walk into a bar

2. Sherif’s top three
for dealing with these ‘hipster’ designers…
SHERIF MANSOUR
PRINCIPAL PRODUCT MANAGER
@SHERIFMANSOUR

3. Sherif’s top three
for dealing with these ‘hipster’ designers…
#1 “… but is this simple, fast and easy to use?”
#2 “…. Ahh, but will the UI scale?”
#3 “Oh that looks nice… Let’s leave that for phase two”

4. A Product Manager and a
Designer walk into a bar

5. Alastair’s top three
when working with these product people
ALASTAIR SIMPSON
HEAD OF DESIGN, PLATFORM & COMMS
@ALANSTAIRS

6. Alastair’s top three
when working with these product people
#1 The “sacrificial lamb” design option
#2 “yeah… we’ll have to user test that”
#3 “I don’t recall <product manager> saying
anything about it being out of scope”

7. A Product Manager and a
Designer walk into a bar

8. Agenda
Roles and responsibilities
Feedback process
Personal reflections

9. Agenda
Roles and responsibilities
Feedback process
Personal reflections

10. UNIDENTIFIED PRODUCT MANAGER
I spec out the feature, do
the mockups and hand it
over to design.

11. ENGINEERING
DESIGNPM

12. TECHCRUNCH
HTTP://BIT.LY/DESIGNRATIO

13. TECHCRUNCH
HTTP://BIT.LY/DESIGNRATIO

14. August
IBM
Plans to hire
100 designers
KPMG
Acquires
Cynergy
March
Facebook
Acquires Hot
Studio
May
Accenture
Acquires Fjord
2013 2014
March July
GE
Opens Design
Studio
BCG
Acquires Strategic
&Creative
October
Capital One
Acquires
Adaptive Path
2015
January
Facebook
Acquires
Teehan+Lax
April
BBVA
Acquires Spring
Studio
May
McKinsey
Acquires Lunar
Wipro
Acquires
Designit
July

15. product managers are

16. THE RESPONSIBILITY SHIFT

17. THE RESPONSIBILITY SHIFT
Design specialist growth →
Product Manager
• Customer research
• Problem definition
• Roadmap
• User journeys
• Personas
• Wireframes
• Prototyping
• Information
architecture
• Vision painting
• Strategy

18. THE RESPONSIBILITY SHIFT
Design specialist growth →
Product Manager
• Customer research
• Problem definition
• Roadmap
• Personas
• Prototyping
• Vision painting
• Strategy
Designer
• Customer research
• User journeys
• Wireframes
• Information
architecture

19. THE RESPONSIBILITY SHIFT
Design specialist growth →
Product Manager
• Customer research
• Problem definition
• Roadmap
• Strategy
Visual Designer
• Customer research
• User journeys
• Wireframes
• Vision painting
UX Specialist
• Personas
• Information
architecture
• Prototyping
• Customer research

20. THE RESPONSIBILITY SHIFT
Design specialist growth →
Product Manager
• Roadmap
• Strategy
Visual Designer
• User journeys
• Wireframes
• Vision painting
UX Specialist
• Information
architecture
• Prototyping
Researcher
• Customer research
• Personas
• Problem definition

21. Roles and
responsibilities

22. Product
does this
THEMUS
Design
does that

23. If you’ve got a standard
across teams, you probably
haven’t got effective teams.
SAID ME, SUMMIT 2017

24. Considerations for responsibilities
Project attributes
Every project is different. How you
approach each project should be
contextual to what needs to be done.
Who plays captain?
If you aren’t hiring “senior” staff
members all the time, who wears the
captain badge?
Different skillset
You want to play to each others
strengths.
Opportunities for growth
Every person has a different path for
growth - how can you balance these?
c

25. Have a conversation

26. Have a
conversation
Have a
conversation
Plan of attack
R&R Play
🍺 or ☕
What needs to be done
over who does it

27. Have a
conversation
Plan of attack
R&R Play
🍺 or ☕
Project X Plan
What Who Status Notes
@sherif
@alastair
@agnes
@sherif

28. Have a
conversation
Plan of attack
R&R Play
🍺 or ☕

29. Put roles aside and ensure
there is a healthy balance
between business, user and
technical concerns.
HENRY TAPIA, LEAD DESIGNER (CONFLUENCE)

30. Have a
conversation
Plan of attack
R&R Play
Roles & Responsibilities
atlassian.com/team-playbook/plays/roles-and-responsibilities
or

31. Have a
conversation
Plan of attack
R&R Play
Roles & Responsibilities
atlassian.com/team-playbook/plays/roles-and-responsibilities
Proceed with caution!
or

32. Have a
conversation
Plan of attack
R&R Play
AHMED SIDKY: “EVOLVING AGILE LEADERSHIP”
www.youtube.com/watch?v=aCsGsX9YXJc
or

33. Have a
conversation
Plan of attack
R&R Play
KRISTO KÄÄRMANN (CEO, TRANSFERWISE)
http://bit.ly/productequalspeople
Our product is an
outcome of the
people we hire and
the decisions they
make.
or

34. Outline
responsibilities
… but proceed with caution!
Having a conversation
Build relationships
The single, most important
cure to any team challenges.
Plan of attack
Start by putting all that needs
to be done in one place.

35. Agenda
Roles and responsibilities
Feedback process
Personal reflections

36. The definition of success in a
feedback session is NOT whether
you've won, but how much you've
tested yourself, and how much
you've learned.
BILLIE MANDEL, ATLASSIAN

38. How the customer
explained it

39. How the customer
explained it
How the project
leader understood it

40. How the customer
explained it
How the project
leader understood it
How the designer
designed it

41. How the customer
explained it
How the project
leader understood it
How the designer
designed it
How the programmer
wrote it

42. How the customer
explained it
How the project
leader understood it
How the designer
designed it
How the programmer
wrote it
What the customer
really needed

43. Teams constantly bicker
over turf, blaming the
various disciplines for their
inability to meet deadlines.
ALAN COOPER

44. Feedback process

45. Co-creation &
joint accountability
ALASTAIR SIMPSON & SHERIF MANSOUR

46. Design as a team
sport
Co-creation as a team sport
Roadmap as a team
sport
Research as a team
sport

47. Research as a team sport
CO-CREATION

48. Share research
findings
Research as
a team
User testing &
interviews
Everyone must participate
in user testing/interviews
bit.ly/atlassian-atlab

49. How to…
Share research
findings
User testing &
interviews

50. Design as a team sport
CO-CREATION

51. Just because I have design
in my job title, doesn’t mean
I am the only one who can
solve design problems
@ALANSTAIRS - SUMMIT 2017

52. Design as a
team
Crazy 8s
Personas
Giving
feedback
http://bit.ly/crazy-8s

53. Design as a
team
Crazy 8s
Personas
Giving
feedback
bit.ly/ADG-Personas

54. Design as a
team
Crazy 8s
Personas
Giving
feedback
Help non designers give design feedback
human
PQ
technical
PQ

55. Roadmap as a team sport
CO-CREATION

56. Roadmap as
a team
Understand
inputs
Align on
problems
“Bottoms-up”
success metics
“Why won’t PM put ______ on the roadmap?!”

57. Roadmap as
a team
Understand
inputs
Align on
problems
“Bottoms-up”
success metics
Product
Vision
Company
goals
Feedback
channels
Business
Model
Roadmap

58. Roadmap as
a team
Understand
inputs
Align on
problems
“Bottoms-up”
success metics Julie Zhuo, Facebook
bit.ly/buildingproduct
JULIE ZHUO, FACEBOOK
bit.ly/buildingproduct
Teams that fall in love with a problem
have more successful outcomes than
teams that fall in love with particular
solutions.
…knowing that a problem is worth
solving continues to be motivating even
when a team doesn’t come across the
right solution…

59. Roadmap as
a team
Understand
inputs
Align on
problems
“Bottoms-up”
success metics
“Natural way”:
Solution → Metric
Everyone evolved:
Problem → Solution → Metrics

60. Design as a
team sport
—
Crazy 8s
Personas
Giving feedback
Co-creation as a team sport
Roadmap as a
team sport
—
Align roadmap inputs
Problems over solutions
“Bottoms up” Success
metrics
Research as a
team sport
—
User testing/interviews
Sharing research
findings

62. Succeed as a team
CO-CREATION

63. Fail & Succeed as a team
CO-CREATION

64. Agenda
Roles and responsibilities
Feedback process
Personal reflections

65. Co-creation is essential
to building a shared
understanding
Focusing on the ‘what’
over the ‘who’ helps
teams scale

66. A Product Manager and a Designer walk into a bar
R&R
FEEDBACK
PROCESS
Beware of “standard” R&R
Have a conversation: plan of attack, responsibilities play and
build relationships
Are you doing feedback right?
Building product is a team sport: research, design and
roadmap as a team
THANKS!
@SHERIFMANSOUR, @ALANSTAIRS