Rosenverse

This video is only accessible to Gold members. Log in or register for a free Gold Trial Account to watch.

Log in Register

Most conference talks are accessible to Gold members, while community videos are generally available to all logged-in members.

Design and Product: from Frenemy to Harmony

Gold
Wednesday, November 29, 2023 • Design in Product 2023
Share the love for this talk
Design and Product: from Frenemy to Harmony
Speakers: Iain McMaster and IHan Cheng
Link:

Summary

Product managers and designers, why don't we always get along? One side claims team ownership but often overrides team decisions, while the other longs for a seat at the table but remains quiet in high-stake discussions. Iain and IHan believe that building a genuine partnership begins with aligning leadership. They will share how they established this partnership and cascaded it down to the individual level. Additionally, they will discuss their methods for guiding teams in shifting their mindset toward cross-functional collaboration. Their goal is to cultivate a trusting relationship so that team members can navigate disagreements respectfully and move forward cohesively once decisions are reached.

Key Insights

  • Nearly half of teams see product and design as a 'two-headed dragon' with conflicting visions rather than a unified team.

  • Mutual commitment from leaders to collaborate can shift teams from siloed roles to shared ownership effectively.

  • Including designers in business conversations increases their understanding and confidence, leading to better decisions.

  • Designers benefit from direct interaction with cross-functional teams like customer care and implementation to gain real user insights.

  • Adopting business language helps designers frame their work in terms that resonate beyond design, facilitating buy-in.

  • Viewing ambiguity as assembling a puzzle rather than a fog enables teams to make progress without full clarity upfront.

  • Designing in the open—sharing early, imperfect work—sparks conversation and aligns teams, despite initial discomfort.

  • Leadership modeling vulnerability, such as sharing unfinished work, shifts team culture towards openness.

  • Direct communication between product and design avoids misunderstandings and speeds up course corrections.

  • Building personal relationships, especially with quieter team members, is essential to encourage engagement and collaboration.

Notable Quotes

"31% say design just executes product’s vision, 48% say product and design have different visions, only 21% say they work together towards shared goals."

"Our hypothesis was we could create better product faster with more eyes looking at the problem, not just product."

"If you’re not embarrassed by what you share, you’ll share too late."

"Business language is for communication. We use it to explain why user centricity matters to broader audiences."

"Ambiguity is like doing a 3000-piece puzzle without knowing what the end picture looks like. You start piecing edges first."

"Designers tend to work behind closed doors because the design process is messy and chaotic, and they don’t want people to see that."

"When product says no to design, it’s not personal—it’s about prioritization and what’s most urgent right now."

"More frequent, open communication and direct conversations helped us avoid assumptions and deliver something usable quickly."

"Leadership needs to give specific directions to open up space for collaboration and inclusion."

"Knowing your teammates personally helps in remote settings, especially for encouraging shy or quiet engineers to engage."

Ask the Rosenbot
Samuel Martin
Co-Design vs Faux-Design: Navigating the Complexities of Sharing Power in Co-Design
2026 • Rosenfeld Community
Sofia Quintero
The Product Philosophy Behind EnjoyHQ
2021 • Advancing Research 2021
Gold
Dan Willis
Theme 3: Intro
2024 • Enterprise Experience 2020
Gold
Dan Saffer
Why AI projects fail (and what we can do about it)
2025 • Rosenfeld Community
Megan Clegg
Space for Everyone: Reframing Accessibility Through a Wider Lens
2021 • Design at Scale 2021
Gold
Daniel J. Rosenberg
Digital Medicine Design
2019 • Enterprise Community
Chui Chui Tan
Global insights: Embracing international and intercultural research for innovation
2025 • Advancing Research 2025
Gold
Monty Hammontree
The Future of UX Research
2020 • Advancing Research Community
Kim Lenox
Leading Distributed Global Teams
2019 • Enterprise Community
Phil Hesketh
Designing Accessible Research Workflows
2021 • DesignOps Summit 2021
Gold
Lisa Spitz
Building Trust Through Equitable Research Practices
2022 • Civic Design 2022
Gold
Bria Alexander
Opening Remarks
2021 • DesignOps Summit 2021
Gold
Pippa Lomas
Paving the Path for Neurodiversity in Design
2023 • DesignOps Summit 2023
Gold
Saskia Liebenberg
Start Small for Big Impact
2019 • DesignOps Community
Trisha Causley
[Demo] Complexity in disguise: Crafting experiences for generative AI features
2024 • Designing with AI 2024
Gold
Rachael Dietkus, LCSW
Leading through the long tail of trauma
2022 • Enterprise Community

More Videos

Joanna Vodopivec

"Video parties allow many teams to engage and observe learnings in a more compelling and digestible way than slides."

Joanna Vodopivec Prabhas Pokharel

One Research Team for All - Influence Without Authority

March 9, 2022

Louis Rosenfeld

"The language is like an entirely different lexicon, and sometimes the same acronyms mean different things."

Louis Rosenfeld Lashanda Hodge Senongo Akpem Chris Hodowanec

Becoming a Civic Designer: Making the Move from Private to Public Sector

November 17, 2022

Bria Alexander

"Please put your questions for a specific speaker in the associated thread for the talk."

Bria Alexander

Day 3 Welcome

September 25, 2024

Uday Gajendar

"Am I getting what I wanna get out of this conference? What’s not coming and what would I still like to learn?"

Uday Gajendar Louis Rosenfeld

Day 2 Welcome

June 5, 2024

Sam Proulx

"If you have to learn a workaround, you want to learn it once and reuse it again and again."

Sam Proulx

Online Shopping: Designing an Accessible Experience

June 7, 2023

Russ Unger

"Hiring managers should facilitate hiring decisions but truly rely on the team members who work daily with the candidate."

Russ Unger

Onboarding: The Ecosystem, not the Afterthought

November 7, 2017

Catherine Dubut

"We created a simple WordPress site so all corners of the business could contribute and share insights, breaking down silos."

Catherine Dubut

Bridging Physical and Digital Spaces: Approaches to Retail Service Design

March 18, 2021

Josh Clark

"Sentient design is about intelligent interfaces that are aware of context and intent so they can be radically adaptive to user needs in the moment."

Josh Clark Veronika Kindred

Sentient Design: New Postures for AI-Mediated Experiences (2nd of 3 seminars)

January 29, 2025

Dantley Davis

"It was a tax I had to pay my entire career — balancing the work and trying to lift my community."

Dantley Davis

Leadership & Diversity—A Fireside Chat with Dantley Davis

September 17, 2020