The collaboration between a Project Manager and a Designer

In the daily life of a company, I don't take on the role of a Project Manager, but I will prove below that both UI/UX Designers and Project Managers should have mutual competencies to some extent. All of this is to make the processes that occur in the company, and are a visible value for clients, more optimal and "bulletproof."

The magic phrase - "getting sh*t done" - is definitely appropriate here. After all, it's about delivering the product to the main stakeholder on time. That's why sometimes PMs "push" developers to speed up their work or give up some functionalities designed by designers. Effective project management is a big responsibility that lies with people who have contact with clients in their work.

However, we cannot forget about delivering high-quality products. Delivering a solution on time is one thing, but meeting the business requirements for the appropriate level of user experience is another. Research conducted by the Norman Nielsen Group confirms that companies that have focused on increasing the usability of their digital products have seen an increase in KPIs. The average increase in KPI after implementing good UX design practices was 83%. Just because of these facts, the Project Manager should not forget about the role that user experience plays in the project creation process (you can read about the design process itself here. Another issue is to raise the Client's awareness of the importance of this issue for their product.

Very often, I can observe that Kamil or Jacek, who are EE project managers, dedicate a lot of time to direct communication with the client. They have to deal with often unrealistic deadlines, setting priorities, millions of corrections, or simply requests from stakeholders that have an impact on product development. To put it colloquially, these guys have to "keep it all together". The key is to control all the fragmented parts of the project and not to lose this control. This is the essence of the Project Manager's job - bringing all areas of the process together.

Unexpected obstacles can always arise, both on the client's side and on the part of the contractor or service provider. In my opinion, one of the most difficult and necessary skills is to anticipate risks or at least develop a plan B in case they occur. In addition, there are several other areas that the PM should be able to manage, including:

• projects;
• human resources;
• deadlines;
• budgets;
• communication.

When I mention budgets, I don't mean financial resources, as that is not the PM's role. In IT, one of the most valuable resources is time. Project estimates are often based on estimating the amount of work required. Here, too, one must face the "bottleneck" and meet this challenge, as poor estimation of working hours can have disastrous consequences.

Referring to the above list of areas, I can see a certain analogy with my own work. A designer should also have skills in managing human resources (if they are the leader of a given project), deadlines, budgets, and sometimes communication. When calculating the costs of a project from the design side, the PM should turn to the designer, as they have professional knowledge in their field. Therefore, the ability to estimate one's own work is a very desirable trait.

The whole process should start with a common question (both from the PM and the Designer) - "what is the goal?" It should be asked at the beginning because based on it, we can select the tools, team, and estimate the costs that will need to be incurred. From the PM's point of view, the answer to this question will allow him to plan work and distribute it properly over time. This way, the PM will learn about the priorities and business goals of the stakeholders. The designer will know how to proceed with the implementation and how to guide their part of the project to meet the expectations of users, who cannot be overlooked because the product is primarily targeted at them. In my opinion, the Designer should not start the design process until they receive well-defined requirements and goals. In summary, the work of the Project Manager and Designer, and sometimes also the Developer, should be very focused when it comes to business goals and initial agreements.

A Project Manager is also a person who verifies the project in the first place. However, we cannot go to extremes. If the PM starts focusing on small nuances of the solution being created, the product delivery time will significantly extend. Then, instead of looking at the project from above and with a certain degree of safety margin, one can get lost in continuous verification of every detail. To avoid such situations, the PM should trust the Designer and acknowledge that the designed solution is justified. Of course, an essential feature is the ability to work out a compromise. If time starts to run out, and functionality is important, its scope can be reduced (in agreement, of course). One cannot be closed to suggestions from either side, as they may prove to be valuable.

Creating a complex project is a time-consuming task. At some point, it may turn out that the joint vision established at the beginning by the PM, Designer, Developer, and Client does not meet the latter's expectations. Agile methodologies come to the rescue, guaranteeing end-users insight into the project's progress through its iterative verification at various stages. Tests help evaluate a specific stage. A good PM should be aware of their value for projects and be able to distinguish between those tests, for example, quantitative and qualitative, to propose an optimal solution to a particular Client. Quick prototyping verification at an early stage helps eliminate the risk of generating unnecessary costs to correct errors.

Of course, one cannot avoid Client requests, but when something was not recorded in the documentation or could potentially affect the development of the designed solution, the Designer should require double confirmation of the requested action's implementation. The Designer is responsible for ensuring the project's functionality and cannot afford to implement absolutely all changes without examining their validity or simply whether they work. Mutual understanding should also occur at this point. The Project Manager is also responsible for creating a space to work on the project and sometimes defending the project (in agreement with the Designer) against the Client. Therefore, the project participants on the execution side should be familiar with the principles of cooperation in the aforementioned methodologies.

One can, therefore, conclude that the cooperation between the PM and the Designer is closely related to determining the business goals that need to be met. Furthermore, those goals must be translated into a functional product ultimately. The entire workflow should be based on iterative growth and verification of the project, and above all, on conversation and working out a common, coherent concept that will be understandable to everyone. It is essential to remember that, despite the important deadline for delivering the finished product, the user on whom the process should focus is also crucial. Thanks to a high level of user experience, the product will have much greater value.

In the end, the project will not only be "delivered" on time and within the originally planned budget but will also solve real user problems, providing them with real value, and the Client will achieve business success.