Who Owns What? The Clash Between PMs and Designers
There’s a huge gap between what PMs & designers think about each others’ responsibilities.
From the chart:
1. Do PMs own stakeholder buy-in?
→ 53% of PMs think so, while just 16% of designers do
2. Do PMs own what features the team should build?
→ 56% of PMs think so, while just 15% of designers do
3. Do designers own product discovery?
→ 73% of designers think so, while just 19% of PMs do
4. Do designers own explaining designs to leadership?
→ 76% of designers think so, while just 29% of PMs do
Each discipline thinks it owns things the other doesn’t.
It’s worth asking: “Why?”
- There is no industry standardisation
- There is a lot of vagueness in each, unlike disciplines like engineering
- PM, in particular, does not have clearly defined artifacts or deliverables
All of these lead to everyone having their own opinion:
→ The empowered PM folks yell, “designers own discovery and PMs features to build, with each as partners!”
→ Whereas the feature factories yell, “PMs should frame both, designers should contribute!”
→ All this while a more senior designer yells, “I should own it all!”
Then… What should both PMs and designers actually do?
Explore this piece based on interviews with 14 PMs, designers, and UXRs to learn from the best.
Here’s the practical reality: We don’t live in an ideal world.
If you want to get promoted, you typically have to be a pragmatist.
Here are 3 recommendations:
1. Lean on your job responsibilities and org context
What is expected where YOU work?
Understand and assess what leaders and other PMs and designers want you to do.
Each company is built differently. Adapt accordingly.
2. Have a discussion with each other
It doesn’t matter who starts the conversation, but it’s worth defining responsibilities.
At Apollo, we used to do this at our half-year off-sites.
Set up and practise whatever cadence works for you.
3. Stay close to the ground and iterate
There’s going to be practical things that you do that the others may not have expected.
The key is to have a close relationship, where you feel open to share these things with each other.
Obviously, all of it sounds simple theoretically.
It’s much harder to do in reality.
That’s why everyone usually disagrees.
