“Being responsible for the user experience” is required from a UX designer. But when every user action is an experience, where does your responsibility begin and end? In a world of constant interactions from the first touch to the last, the moment of truth comes when you extend your sphere of influence, aiming to improve every aspect: from graphic elements to technical solutions, from UX to product development. Because a good UX designer is not just a specialist; it’s a mindset. And this mindset can propel you up the career ladder.
Vlad Kovin shared his experience on how he grew from a UX designer to the role of Product Owner at Bilderlings and how his experience in UX has helped and continues to help to this day. Read on to discover insights into professional growth, understand how UX impacts product development, and how roles within the industry are changing.
“A Good UX Designer Eventually Grows Into a PO”
No matter where you look, the definitions vary. But there’s one common thread — you’re responsible for the user experience. But where does it start, and where does it end?
All your interactions, from the first touch to the last, constitute your experience. What a designer can actually influence, however, depends on the specific company.
You can design wildly beautiful buttons, but that’s about creating a pretty interface. If your domain is only the graphical elements on the screen, you’re a UI designer. A UX designer, however, strives to extend his sphere of influence to improve everything: for the company, for the user, for the business. He works to refine processes “under the hood,” technical solutions, wording, terms and conditions, and other product features.
When I was solely focused on design, I could imagine an ideal product, create a layout for it, and map out the flow across the screens. However, once I passed it on for development and discussion, it turned out that the outcome was often off-target: here something was trimmed, there something was rewritten, elsewhere deemed something to be unimportant. But I understood that every detail mattered. I found myself having to justify every design decision, provide evidence separately, and engage in discussions with everyone — ultimately, it became easier to become a PO.
We were working on a mobile application. I was responsible for the design and simultaneously explained them what, how and where it would function. Ultimately, it turned out that I was doing much more than just a designer.
It feels pretty dumb when you’re doing a lot, and everyone else thinks it just happens by itself. It’s important to me that my efforts are recognized.
There are moments at work when you start doing a bit more than necessary. Then, you’re faced with a choice: to roll back or to keep moving forward into that “more.”
It all depends on you: either you’re a designer who accidentally took on a managerial role and then reverted back to design, or you embraced that managerial role and decided that, okay, I can do this too, I want this too.
UX As A Mindset
The experience of a UX designer constantly comes into play. The main advantage is that when an external task lands on your desk or an idea pops into your head — that something is needed, or a problem arises, you see everything in its entirety right away: the user’s pain points, what the business needs, potential system-level conflicts, and development requirements. And with that, I immediately understand — at least in broad terms — how it all should look, how it can work, and how it will evolve in the future.
You start by sketching out the “broad strokes,” and then you begin to refine. By the time I’ve produced a draft design, I already know how it will function, how the task will be described, and its implications in other aspects. Bam! — and it’s all ready. Essentially, I’m working in two professions at once.
The Ability To Say “No”
A big part of my job is to refuse and not do certain things.
Our backlog is constantly swelling. Everyone has a million wishes, but no one thinks about the details. Take QR codes, for example. For a whole year, I’ve been warding off ideas to develop QR codes for payments.
Why? Because there’s no unified standard in the market, meaning this service would only be necessary for individuals within our service. However, our focus is on corporate clients, and our base of individual clients isn’t in the millions. What’s the likelihood that the need to transfer money (from our individual client to another individual client) via QR code will be in demand?
I waited until a unified standard emerged within the Eurozone that would allow for its use across different banks and payment systems. And now, this standard has appeared: the EPC has released a document explaining that QR codes within the Eurozone should be created following a unified structure. Only after this it make sense to develop such functionality.
UX And Personal Qualities
I’m inclined towards optimizing everything in life. If there’s a process, I want it to be automated. If something can work on its own, I let it do so. I aim to achieve the maximum with minimum effort.
It’s not that as a child, when everyone dreamed of becoming astronauts, I dreamed of working as a PO in the financial sector. No, I just ended up here, and I want to make a good product. To do that, I need to understand what’s happening in the market, what’s possible, and what specifically we can do to make things better.
I find it fascinating to conduct research, discover interesting things, and try to apply them to my own life, attempting to understand exactly how these things can improve my life or the lives of others. And ultimately, some of these things get implemented in our company.
UX As A Business Approach To Its Development
If a company is dominated by financiers, then all decisions will be made based on their metrics.
If it’s a corporation, and the meetings are attended by stout gentlemen in suits, then all decisions will be made based on their own considerations. If the company was founded by two nerd friends, they will polish their product from the perspective of code cleanliness.
If the company is focused on UX and considers it important, then all development is determined by the fact that they are conducting research, both quantitative and qualitative, formulating hypotheses, running tests — and making decisions based on that, due to their adherence to UX principles.
