A 5-Year Journey in Product Development
I have been working in the IT industry for five years, with the past four years and five months as a service designer. During this time, I have successfully conceptualized and launched four internal developer tools, primarily web console products.
My work process can be structured as follows:
The Service Designer's Product Development Lifecycle
1. Initial Product Conceptualization
Begin with comprehensive research, including user interviews and market analysis. Collaborate with the product owner to define product scope and features. Deliver research documentation and product specifications outlining core functionalities. Key deliverables: Research documentation, Product Specification
2. Detailed Planning Phase
Following the Product Specification, the Product Owner establishes milestones and timelines. Within our Agile framework, we develop User Stories and Definition of Done (DoD) for each feature.
We then create detailed planning documentation based on these User Stories, including comprehensive policy documents addressing permissions, scope, and integration methodologies. Through collaborative sessions with the Product Owner, we identify and document potential challenges and solutions.
The final step involves creating high-fidelity screen designs using Axure. Given our team structure without a dedicated product designer, we focus on precise component definition. Axure's prototyping capabilities allow us to map detailed interactions and edge cases for each feature. Key deliverables: User Stories, Policy Documentation, High-Fidelity Screen Designs
3. Development Collaboration
The planning documentation serves as the foundation for developer collaboration. We maintain an iterative feedback loop, addressing developer queries and updating documentation as needed.
Backend developers create data structures and API specifications based on our documentation. This process often leads to policy refinements through collaborative discussion.
Frontend implementation involves detailed UI/UX discussions. When developers propose UX improvements, we evaluate them against our planning documentation before implementation.
Key deliverables: Developer Q&A documentation, meeting summaries, revised project specifications
4. Quality Assurance and Release
With development completion, we initiate comprehensive quality assurance. QA follows structured test cases, with issues tracked through JIRA tickets. Each ticket includes detailed reproduction steps, relevant URLs, and visual documentation. We conduct multiple QA iterations before finalizing the release schedule. Release documentation includes detailed feature updates and user guides. Key Deliverables: QA test cases, JIRA documentation, release notes
5. Post-Release Optimization
Our post-release strategy focuses on user engagement and product improvement:
- Proactive user communication about new features
- Systematic feedback collection through interviews and surveys
- Backlog refinement based on user insights
- Iterative feature development based on feedback Key deliverables: User feedback analysis, survey results, updated product backlog
Career Reflection
In my career development journey, I continuously sought opportunities for growth within this cycle. As a Service Designer, I aspired to expand my technical capabilities by understanding data structures and API designs for backend development. I aimed to modernize our QA process through automation, moving beyond manual testing. While my role primarily involved creating Product Specs, I wanted to evolve into a Product Owner role, overseeing the entire product lifecycle. Furthermore, I saw potential in expanding our internal developer tools to the external market, pushing boundaries beyond our company walls.
Reality, however, diverged from my expectations. The initiative to expand products externally faced organizational inertia and was easily sidelined. More critically, my team lead's perspective fundamentally clashed with my vision. Their praise for creating "unquestionable documentation" revealed a philosophical divide - while they valued perfect documentation, I believed in collaborative iteration and continuous improvement. These misalignments, combined with other challenges, ultimately hindered my ability to execute my role effectively.
Six months have passed since transitioning from my previous role. While not my initial path, my current position allows me to explore new territories within my expertise. I now oversee product quality management, developing a web-based console to streamline this process. Though working with a smaller development team and without an official Product Owner title, I manage the complete product lifecycle from specification to feature elaboration.
Additionally, I've made automation, developing Python-based tools to optimize workflows. While currently focused on basic API integration, I aim to expand these automation capabilities throughout the year. Though our products remain internal, their scope allows for cross-organizational collaboration and internal conference presentations. I've also initiated and received approval for a significant documentation restructuring project, which has led to opportunities to influence higher-level organizational documentation practices.
The journey isn't without its challenges. Professional relationships can be complex, particularly with past conflicts. However, I approach these situations as growth opportunities, maintaining professionalism while pursuing career development. Despite occasional setbacks or feelings of uncertainty, I focus on leveraging the supportive aspects of my environment. Moving forward, I'm committed to evolving my role in Tech PM, embracing new challenges with optimism and determination.