Pavel Samsonov’s Post

4 pieces of advice I wish I had received earlier as a designer / founder: 1. Your sales team will likely know your users better than anyone: Doing tons of customer interviews feels great, but often a 10 minute conversation with your sales team can yield 90% of the feedback you could have received from customers. Your sales team is likely talking to dozens of customers every day and can be a gold mine for customer insights. 2. Intuition often trumps A/B testing: We've all been there—faced with a design dilemma, unable to choose between different options. “We can just A/B test it!” This sounds great, but it can become a crutch for decision-making. Seasoned designers possess an innate sense of what works based on their experience. They've been down this road before and don't always need to rely heavily on A/B testing to make informed design decisions. 3. Empower designers and engineers to think like product managers: To create a cohesive product that aligns with your company's overall strategy, it's crucial to empower your designers and engineers to wear the "PM" hat. Encourage them to think deeply about how their work contributes to the broader goals of the company. Those who operate in isolation or just follow a product manager's directives will never hit their full potential. 4. Embrace imperfection and prioritize speed: In the world of product development, perfectionism can be your worst enemy. Taking a rough idea from sketch to execution as quickly as possible should be your #1 goal. Especially if you're still working on achieving product-market fit, you need to experiment with tons of ideas. The speed at which you iterate and build your product is one of the key indicators of success for early stage companies.

𝐇𝐨𝐰 𝐭𝐨 𝐒𝐨𝐥𝐯𝐞 𝐚 𝐏𝐫𝐨𝐝𝐮𝐜𝐭 𝐃𝐞𝐬𝐢𝐠𝐧 𝐐𝐮𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧? Product design questions are a common occurrence in interviews, and they can be challenging to answer. However, there are a few key steps that you can follow to increase your chances of success. 1. Understand the problem. The first step is to understand the problem that the question is asking you to solve. What is the user trying to achieve? What are the constraints of the problem? Once you understand the problem, you can start to brainstorm solutions. 2. Brainstorm solutions. Once you understand the problem, you can start to brainstorm solutions. Be creative and come up with as many solutions as possible. Don't worry about whether your solutions are feasible or desirable at this stage. Just focus on coming up with as many ideas as possible. 3. Evaluate solutions. Once you have a few solutions, you need to evaluate them. Consider the pros and cons of each solution. Which solution is the most feasible? Which solution is the most desirable? Which solution is the best fit for the problem? 4. Choose a solution. Once you have evaluated the solutions, you need to choose one. Explain why you chose this solution and how it solves the problem. 5. Communicate your solution. Finally, you need to communicate your solution. Explain your solution to the interviewer in a clear and concise way. Use visuals to help illustrate your point. By following these steps, you can increase your chances of solving a product design question. Here are some additional tips for solving product design questions: >>Use the design thinking process.  >>Be user-centric.  >>Be creative.  >>Be realistic.  >>Practisex100000 Also, follow Shravan Tickoo and Diego Granados for solving Product Design from scratch.

This is a horrible common practice in interviewing designers: - Introduction call with a CTO, CPO etc. - Given a take-home task. Which is of THEIR product. - The team will review internally. - Maybe come back with feedback. - Interview another 2-3 rounds. I don't mind tasks when done properly. What I care about is: - Companies exploiting designers for their skills on their product, without paying. In this market where many great people are going for the same role, if a company does this to 4-5 people they have so much free work. - I will never accept a for-profit company doing this to people. - Single parents, people caring for family members for example DO NOT have time to do extra work outside of a very busy schedule. Tasks should be done on a different product/service, timeboxed, and understand caveats i.e no access to customers to inform design decisions.

Are you making this mistake during Design Reviews 👀 During my first design review, I excitedly presented my design mockups. Result? Stakeholders confused, unclear about the designs' purpose. I introduced mockups too soon, without any context. This approach assumes everyone knows the ins and outs of your project. I quickly learned to explain 'why' and 'how' before jumping into designs. Here's my 4-step checklist to nail every design review: 1. Understand Audience first: → Tailor presentation to audience's expertise and interests. → Address their specific concerns and needs. 2. Share Context : → Define the problem clearly → Explain project's importance and relevance → Outline success metrics → outline expected actions from the audience (e.g. approval/sign-off/ discussion) 3. Content Next: → Share quick overview of the process (e.g. feature scoping, research, designs) → Highlight key insights from research and analysis (insights that directly relate to the problem and its solution) → Present designs or demos (highlight design decisions) → Encourage and welcome feedback. Be open and receptive. 4. Conclusion Last: → Recap the discussion and any decisions or outcomes. → Detail next steps, roles, deadlines. → Open the floor for any last comments or feedback. It takes time to master navigating reviews. But this simple shift is your ticket to: - Building stakeholder trust and getting early buy-ins. - Leading the conversation with confidence. - Growing into a strategic thinker. What are your go-to tips for nailing design reviews? Share your secrets in the comments! #productdesign #designthinking #softkills #juniordesigner -- Hi there, I'm Muskan! 👋 I help junior designers unlock the next stage of their design careers. 📈 Ready to invest in yourself in 2024? Book a free call to get started!

How do you deal with feedback when presenting an A/B test that is fully developed? There has to be a clear system to filter feedback regardless of who share the feedback. This system is to protect the implementation team from always redoing the work. It’s also to protect the business from losing weeks and weeks to downtime because we keep sending back final tests to revision. The system is a 3-step approval process - Test plan : all feedback is welcome. Inputs should help identify goals to track, technical requirements, direction for designers and solid copy. - Design approval : all feedback is welcome. Branding guidelines are followed, test hypothesis is well executed. We finalize copy and feel good about the final design. - Launch approval : feedback is welcomed but not guaranteed to be acted on. There were two touchpoints prior for feedback. Edit at this stage will mostly fix bugs or address issues caught in QA. When the third step is met with feedback, it will create a waste in resources if it acted on. More design hours sunk, more dev hours sunk. Is it really likely to alter the test outcome? If the answer is no, then we make a note and use that in refining follow-up variations. At the launch approval stage, this is a check in and we do not alter copy or design. This iterative testing process favors velocity and efficiency. The subsequent variations will require a lower level of effort. Most of the design is already done, dev also has a starting point. Iterating allows us to test twice instead of one in the same timeframe, and we will be able to stack insights from both of these variations. Most tests do not win, so instead of wasting time and resources on any given test, we favor launching quick. 90% and 95% solutions are acceptable. Winning tests can be refined before being released on prod. Iterations build upon the last test and also address the imperfections. One test runs on average for 3 to 4 weeks. One single test is irrelevant to the lifetime of the business, so late feedback is best used for the next test in line. You boost ROI when you maximize resource allocation.

Have you ever started working on a new team and felt lost because the old designer left, and no one really knew where to find stuff? Documentation is a total power move if you want to be seen in your team. Yeah, design systems are a way to document part of your work. Mostly to create a consistent UI. But documenting your process goes way beyond that! It's a way to future-proof your work. Ensuring that what you created will continue to be built upon! Imagine starting at a new job and not knowing: + How the files are organized and labeled + Who worked on what feature + What tools, plugins, and services were used + Why certain decisions were made The list goes on and on, but you get the point. Document more than just your design system. Communicating to your team and future designers how they can pick up where you left off. This will not only ensure that your ideas continue to be built upon. It also shows leadership, especially if you're in a role that is not explicitly a leadership position. It's one of many ways to manage up. And managing up makes you a more important player in your team and helps you get promoted a lot faster. So, spend the extra time documenting. The product, your future team and your career aspirations will thank you.

“I gave them my dream software requirements and the final product was off” These were the exact words of my prospect on the call. It was like their product vision was lost in translation. And that’s the case with most of them. At least 70% of my clients come with this one frustration. And here are my tips to align a product to client requirement: → Listen to understand ↳ Take time to understand their vision, dig deep into the real problems of users, and what are they expecting as a solution. Most people miss at the very first step. → Transparent Communication ↳ Communicate within the team and with the clients transparently and consistently to stay aligned and informed of the progress. → Use visual prototypes ↳Don’t tell, show them by converting the ideas into wireframes or mockups to ensure everybody is on the same page. → Build in sprints ↳ Build in parts. Test. Get feedback. Refine. Rinse and repeat. This ensures the end product is well aligned to the vision. BONUS TIP: Choose a team that’s skilled, is a hardcore problem solver and work to create an impact. Your product is a blend of people and processes. Make sure you choose just the right ones to build your dream product. HINT: It is me. Book an appointment today!

I've always been against design challenges for this exact reason.

Our Head of Webflow, Willi Sommer, spills the beans about how to improve your developer briefs in 3 steps. The general rule of thumb is that it's better to over-communicate. And if you're unsure about what information to give, just ask 🙏 #webflowdeveloper #webflow #webflowpartner

🚀 𝐇𝐨𝐰 𝐭𝐨 𝐑𝐮𝐧 𝐘𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐎𝐰𝐧 5-𝐃𝐚𝐲 𝐃𝐞𝐬𝐢𝐠𝐧 𝐒𝐩𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐭 🚀 In today's fast-paced business environment, the ability to rapidly innovate and solve problems is more crucial than ever. A powerful method to achieve this is by running a 5-day Design Sprint. A Design Sprint is a structured, time-constrained process that helps teams quickly prototype and test ideas. See here below a step-by-step guide on how your organization can run its own 5-day Design Sprint. 𝐏𝐫𝐞𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧: 𝐀𝐬𝐬𝐞𝐦𝐛𝐥𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐓𝐞𝐚𝐦 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐃𝐞𝐟𝐢𝐧𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐒𝐩𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐭 𝐆𝐨𝐚𝐥 Before the sprint starts, you need to: 👥 Assemble the Team: Bring together a cross-functional team of 5-7 people, including a facilitator, decision-maker, and experts, relevant to the challenge. 🎯 Define the Sprint Goal: Identify a clear, actionable sprint goal / challenge. 𝐃𝐚𝐲 1: 𝐔𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐃𝐞𝐟𝐢𝐧𝐞 🎤 Interview Experts: Bring in subject matter experts to share insights about the problem space. This can include team members, stakeholders, or external consultants. 📝 Gather Insights: Collect and synthesize information from the expert interviews to build a comprehensive understanding of the challenge. 🔎 Map the User Journey: Create a map of the user journey, identifying key steps and pain points. This visual representation will guide your focus for the rest of the sprint. 𝐃𝐚𝐲 2: 𝐈𝐝𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐞 💻 Inspiring examples: Every team member looks individually for inspiring examples on how to solve the sprint challenge. Afterwards everyone presents 3 inspiring examples they have found. ✍🏻 Sketch Solutions: Using the 4-step-sketch, each individual will create a finalized solution sketch that represents the solution to the sprint challenge. 𝐃𝐚𝐲 3: 𝐃𝐞𝐜𝐢𝐝𝐞 🎙️ Pitches: Every individual presents their solution sketch to the rest of the team. 📍Dot voting: Select the most promising ideas / elements from each sketch. Dot voting is a tool to identify the strongest ideas, that clearly show which elements should be included in the prototype. 𝐃𝐚𝐲 4: 𝐏𝐫𝐨𝐭𝐨𝐭𝐲𝐩𝐞 🛠️ Time to build a realistic prototype that can be tested with users! Assign Roles: Divide tasks among team members, such as building the prototype, creating the interface, and preparing the testing scenarios. 𝐃𝐚𝐲 5: 𝐓𝐞𝐬𝐭 🗣️ Recruit 5 interviewees that match your target audience. Conduct one-on-one interviews to gather qualitative feedback. 📈 Analyze Results: Review the feedback and identify patterns. Discuss what worked, what didn’t, and the insights gained. Afterwards the prototype / new business proposition can be updated with the gathered feedback. 𝐂𝐨𝐧𝐜𝐥𝐮𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧 Running a 5-day Design Sprint is a powerful way to fast-track innovation and solve complex problems. By following these steps, your team can harness the power of design thinking to create impactful solutions. Curious and want to know more? Feel free to send me a DM 🙏🏻