Without design there is no product. But without product there’s no design. That’s why the user experience must be conceived with business goals in mind. But Designers tend to focus on the users, while the Business on KPIs, creating a gap that’s difficult to bridge. Thus, Designers feel excluded from product decisions, and Business areas feel that Designers don’t consider business needs into their designs. This talk shows the role of Design seen from a Product Manager’s perspective, and provides a few ideas that can help Design and Business understand each other to improve communication, increase collaboration and avoid friction. These tools will help Designers increase their influence in Product decisions.

1. No ROI: no Design
5 Keys to be part of the decision making process
Sol Mesz
IxDA Munich
March 7 2016, Phoenix Design
ixdamunich.de

2. DESIGN IS IMPORTANT

3. Without
design
there is no
business

4. “design is a highly influential force that,
when effectively integrated with strategy,
marketing, and so forth, can help the
company stay out in front of its
competitors (…) and commanding
handsome price premiums. ”
Jeanne Rae, Harvard Business Review
https://hbr.org/2014/04/design-can-drive-exceptional-returns-for-shareholders/

5. Companies that recognize the strategic value of design
grow faster and enjoy higher margins
Apple, Coca-Cola,
Ford, Herman-
Miller, IBM, Intuit,
Rubbermaid,
Procter & Gamble,
Starbucks,
Starwood,
Steelcase, Target,
Walt Disney,
Whirlpool, Nike.

6. Without Design
there’s no Business.
But without
Business there’s
no Design.

7. Design is king, but
Business is queen and
runs the household
Based on the phrase “Content is king, but marketing is queen and runs the
household” by Gary Vaynerchuk

8.
But if Design is important, why
is it not sitting at the table?

9. Training
Lack of interest in the
business
Design has no formal processes
(IT has methodologies,
business has processes)
Don’t know how to
measure design
Lack of awareness
about value
of design
Design
Industry

10. 5 Keys to be part of the
decision-making process

11. Empathize with the
business and speak their
language
1

12. Design and technology
are responsible for
technical performance.
The Business for the
performance of the
whole.
This is why we focus on
results.

13. If you write great code or make great
design and the product fails, it's
depressing.
If you are a Product Manager and the
product fails, you're fired.
Christina Wodtke

14. For the Business…
Jared Spool
http://www.slideshare.net/jmspool/its-a-great-time-to-be-a-designer-r34-1-up

15. For the Business…
Jared Spool
http://www.slideshare.net/jmspool/its-a-great-time-to-be-a-designer-r34-1-up

16. For the Business…
Jared Spool
http://www.slideshare.net/jmspool/its-a-great-time-to-be-a-designer-r34-1-up

17. For the Business…
Jared Spool
http://www.slideshare.net/jmspool/its-a-great-time-to-be-a-designer-r34-1-up

18. For the Business…
Jared Spool
http://www.slideshare.net/jmspool/its-a-great-time-to-be-a-designer-r34-1-up

19. If you want to talk about…
personas, user testing, user experience,
wireframes.
BusinessDesign
Then you need to start talking about…
business goals, product strategy, KPIs.

20. Take an interest in the
Business
2• It is what the team needs
• It is what employers are looking
for
• It is good for you

21. We are all trying
to solve the same
problem.
And all the parts
are important.
It is what the team needs

22. Christina Wodtke
http://eleganthack.com/why-design-needs-entrepreneurship-and-entrepreneurship-needs-design/
“We complain business
people don’t understand
design, then turn around and
commit the same sin”

23. http://aquent.com/blog/designers-must-attend-to-business
“Designers seem to lack an adequate appreciation for the business
context within which they design”
"My biggest challenge, is finding designers who are comfortable at
the intersection of business and design"
“Sometimes seems that designers view business considerations more
as constraints than as the purpose of their efforts”
“Designers struggle most with the idea of designing a product to
meet a set of business needs”
It is what employers are looking for

24. It is good for you. It is a career choice.
Jared Spool, It’s a great time to be a UX Designer. An Event Apart, Austin 2013
http://aneventapart.com/news/post/its-a-great-time-to-be-a-ux-designer-by-jared-spool-an-event-apart-video
Specialist
Has more knowledge in one
area than others
Generalist
Has an equal amount of
knowledge in several areas
Compartmentalist
Has experience in only one
area
Broad
Specific
Product Manager
Limits your career
choices

25. Jared Spool, It’s a great time to be a UX Designer. An Event Apart, Austin 2013
http://www.slideshare.net/jmspool/its-a-great-time-to-be-a-designer-r34-1-up

26. Teach the Business
about Design
3

27. A little dirty secret: the
Business doesn’t know
much about Design

28. Design involvement
BusinessknowledgeaboutDesign
Inconscious incompetence
Conscious incompetence
Conscious competency
Inconscious competency
Aha-moment
Learning and change
Habit We make informed
decisions without
realising
We start
incorporating design
requirements
We know we don’t know.
We realise the value, start to learn, ask
questions incorporating design
requirements
We don’t know we don’t know.
That’s why we don’t value, dismiss or ignore

29. • Include the business in the design process.
The earlier the better
• Share your methodology (wireframes, card
sorting, personas)
• Design co-creation sessions
• Invite us to user testing

30. Design is the
rendering of intent
Jared Spool A functional spec is
design
Defining KPIs is
design
A product strategy
is design
Design is also the process
we undertake to solve a
problem
Mike Monteiro
A feature is design
Design is not just execution.
It is also decision making.

31. Define goals and KPIs
for your design
4

32. Goal: make product
search easy
KPI: increase product
page views, increase sales
Goal: sell excess stock
KPI: increase page views
and sales of specific
products
Goal: increase sales
KPI: through the “quick
shop button”

33. Goal: improve
access to most most
requested services
KPI: increase page
views of service
pages, reduce calls
into call center

34. Goals: improve the search flow and the quality of the information to reduce cost of
customer care.
KPI: reduce calls to call center, reduce help page views per person

35. Present design in
business terms
5

36. Logo
Color
palette
Grid
While doing user research we learnt that many users encounter
problems when booking flights online.
We researched your competition and saw that most use very little
space for ticket purchasing.
So we decided to use most of the real estate on the page for the
ticket purchase flow, which is what brings most of the income to the
business.
Mike Monteiro, Keynote Interaction15
https://vimeo.com/121082134, starting minute 34:40”

37. • Sell the benefits of your design
• Show how your design is
aligned with business goals
• Show the results of your
design

38. Laura Klein
Autora de “UX for Lean Startups”
http://www.greatnorthelectric.com/blog/2014/6/5/measuring-innovation
When businesses see the tangible
results of product development
and design efforts, they invest
further in these efforts

39. 1. Empathize with the business and their needs
2. Take an interest in the business
3. Teach the business about design
4. Define goals and KPIs for your design
5. Present design in business terms
Keys:

40. Danke : )
Sol Mesz
Email: yo@solmesz.com
LinkedIn, Slideshare: solmesz
Medium: @solmesz