Always prepared: how to stay ahead as a product designer
Being prepared isn’t just for layoffs. It could also be for promotions, highlighting areas for improvement, and yearly plans or even switching jobs.
Picture this: You’re doing your absolute best work, refining your current skill set, and enjoying a new task or project with great cooperation from your colleagues. You’re in the zone, and you don’t even need things like coffee, music, or a specific sitting position. Then, the CEO or HR calls for an all-hands meeting and announces that they need to let go of a few employees. You’re stunned, and your brain is trying to process the information because it could be anyone. You haven’t been documenting or preparing for this possibility, and you need time to get your affairs in order, just in case you’re one of the unlucky ones. You can’t even remember the first task you did at this company. Heck, you can’t even recall what happened in the last two months, let alone nine months back, because you’ve been working here for almost a year now.
You’re not prepared for the worst-case scenario — abruptly losing your job — when you’ve done everything right.
It’s a scary thought, isn’t it? Suddenly losing your job when you’ve been doing everything right can make your heart race. This has happened to a lot of people recently. Some had time to organize themselves before the layoff, and some didn’t. The higher up you go in product design, the more you need proof of live work for certain skill sets.
Let’s talk about how you can stay prepared for the worst and best-case scenarios as a product designer. Being prepared isn’t just for layoffs and job loss. It could also be for promotions, highlighting areas for improvement, and yearly plans. Or even switching jobs.
5 Tips for staying prepared and ahead as a product designer
- Document (Self-assessment): This is unquestionably the first step in keeping prepared for anything and everything. I can’t emphasize enough how crucial this is, especially if you’re a product designer. Ideally, documentation should follow your design approach, but the choice is entirely yours. At the end of each design task, record the following things:
- What the work entails: The problem, goal, constrains, etc.
- What you did: Your contribution, how you solved the problem, did you collaborate with other teams?
- Success metric (if applicable): This is crucial for assessing the effectiveness of your design.
- Design’s impact: Did your design solve the problem, as determined by the success metric developed?
- Learnings: What did you learn, what skill did you refine if you employed new skills, and so on
Consider it as writing a case study for each task, or major feature you complete; the difference is that this keeps you prepared and conscious of your incremental advancements.
2) Refine and Identify Your Design Process: Throughout my experience with various companies, I have found that my design process tends to evolve based on the company’s specific practices. It’s important to recognize that your design process will likely change when you begin working at a new company. By identifying and refining your process early on, you can save yourself a lot of trouble.
While I have a solid design process that works for me, I understand that it may not always be the most efficient for the company’s needs. During the first few months at a new company, I made a point to highlight their design process and adapt accordingly. Documenting any changes that occur is also crucial for future reference.
Not only does this approach allow me to continually improve my skills, it also makes me a more versatile designer. Familiarity with different work processes is a valuable asset, and I take advantage of this during interview processes.
3) Know the impact of your designs: This is something a lot of us forget to ask about after the project goes live. Sometimes it’s so successful that there aren’t really many problems, or there are unidentified problems that aren’t being tracked. Take some time to find out.
When you’re documenting, leave space for the impact column. You can go back to it every now and then if you keep documenting. You’ll see that knowing the impact of your work sets you up for growth and/or refinement of your process if there’s any need for improvement early on.
What this means over time is that you’ll start to produce high-quality designs, and you’ll get rid of imposter syndrome. You’ll know the quality of your work because you can see the result. When there’s a need for growth, you’ll be able to see it clearly and get the necessary help from your managers. Now that you have everything documented, you’re ready for anything at any time — a promotion or any impromptu layoff.
You don’t have to start from scratch; you already have something readily available. You’re always prepared.
4) Set goals for yourself: Just as we age in number, we also age in our careers as the years go by. Regularly documenting your work and its impact will unconsciously and consciously lead you to assess yourself, your strengths, weaknesses, skills, and areas for improvement. Imposter syndrome often arises from not knowing how much you know and wanting to play it cool. However, with a clearer understanding based on your documentation, you can identify what requires change or improvement. This is where goal setting comes into play.
Setting career goals is essential for your growth and overall success. Having both long-term and short-term goals keeps you laser-focused on your career growth. Refer to my article on how to think about career growth without sacrificing excitement for work and review some pointers for career growth.
To set your goals, reflect on your interests, values, and passions. What do you enjoy doing, and what is meaningful to you in a career? What are you good at, and what do you need to work on? Compile a list and determine what is most important for you to learn and improve right now to achieve your ambitious goal.
5) Always have a pet project: A pet project, to me, is something I work on in my spare time to improve my skills. Sometimes it’s a conscious and deliberate effort; other times, I’m forced to learn something new to fill a knowledge gap. Whatever the case may be for you, always have a pet project.
My last pet project was as basic as figuring out how to write work-related articles. I wanted to share some tidbits I’ve learned and also remind myself of my own journey. Now I can confidently share my insights because I figured out a few things and got out of my head. Let me know if you want any tips to get started on storytelling and writing like a pro, even if you’re just starting.
Having a pet project means you’re always upskilling. If you’re serious about your career goals, your pet project should tie back to them. For example, if your goal is to become a successful and well-known product designer, your pet project could be to learn how to speak at public events or create content.
In conclusion, as a product designer, it is important to document your work regularly. This can be done on a bi-weekly, monthly, or quarterly basis. Regular documentation can help you identify areas that require improvement, refinement, or growth, and can help you see where you can improve your design process. By recording the impacts of your work, successful or not, you can identify problems and suggest improvements to your team members. It is also helpful to set career goals for yourself and work on pet projects that align with your aspirations.
Hi, I’m Karena Iyakoregha, and I will be sharing weekly tidbits with you. These will be a series of topics that I am passionate about, have struggled with, or have learned throughout my journey as a product designer and writer.
