For many product managers and designers, it’s easy to get wrapped up in the allure of delivering exceptional products or designing flawless user experiences. But here’s the truth: the world doesn’t revolve around product.
Too many realize this too late in their careers—that their role isn’t just about creating something new and shiny. Product management and design are, at their core, business functions, just like marketing, sales, or supply chain. Once you grasp this concept, you can elevate the impact of your work far beyond the realm of product delivery.
Product as a business function
If you’re being paid by a business, your role is to serve that business. Whether you are designing interfaces or defining a product roadmap, the real value you bring lies in how well your efforts align with what drives the business. Your job isn’t just to build a great product, but to build a great product that serves the business’s objectives.
Just like marketing focuses on customer acquisition or supply chain optimizes operations, product managers and designers must focus on:
- Understanding what drives the business.
- Translating those drivers into design and product strategy.
- Setting priorities that support broader business goals.
When you take the time to align your product or design strategy with the needs of the business, you’ll not only deliver a great product—you’ll also create results in areas that impact the business at large, such as:
-
Cost structures. Understanding how to deliver a product that fits within financial constraints is critical. This can involve designing for manufacturability or making choices that reduce material or production costs.
-
Time to market. Reducing time to market by improving design processes or optimizing workflows can have a significant impact on the business’s competitiveness.
-
Manufacturability. Sometimes a design looks great on paper but isn’t feasible to manufacture at scale. Design and product teams must be aware of these constraints to ensure they aren’t creating bottlenecks down the line.
While it’s tempting to focus on exciting tasks like relaunching a product line or building out an entirely new range, it’s essential not to lose sight of the bigger picture. When design and product are understood as business functions, priorities shift towards initiatives that create measurable business impact. Instead of only focusing on the next exciting product feature, product teams should also consider:
-
Reducing time to market by 50%: Can the product be delivered faster? What parts of the process can be streamlined without sacrificing quality?
-
Increasing margins: How can design and product decisions help improve profitability? Is there room to cut production costs or increase the product’s value perception?
-
Reducing inventory: Can you design products that require fewer components or are easier to manufacture, thus reducing the need for excess inventory?
The language divide: Business vs. Design
One clear way the product vs. business divide shows up is in the language used by each camp. Work isn’t war, but corporate environments often use metaphors rooted in competition, aggression, and conquest. This kind of language can seem alien and even counterproductive to those coming from product management or design backgrounds.
Business language is filled with war-like metaphors. Companies:
- “Conquer” the market
- “Capture” mindshare
- “Target” customers
- “Destroy” the competition
- “Fight” for market share
- Employ a sales “force”
- Hire “head-hunters”
- Pick their “battles”
This language reflects a combative mindset focused on domination and victory. In contrast, the language used by product people is often more empathetic and user-focused. Designers aim to:
- “Reduce” friction
- “Empower” users
- “Enable” and “help” users
- “Meet” user expectations
- “Refine” touchpoints
- “Build trust” with users
The two languages represent different philosophies. While the business side is driven by competition, numbers, and growth, the design side emphasizes improving user experience and creating meaningful, lasting connections with customers.
For product people, this language divide can create misunderstandings, especially in large meetings with stakeholders. When a designer speaks about “reducing cognitive load” or “improving consistency,” business leaders might tune out or fail to grasp the impact of the work.
One solution is to leave UX vocabulary at the door when entering a business meeting. Designers and product managers can adapt their language to better align with business goals, telling a story that highlights how their work supports the company’s objectives. Instead of focusing on abstract UX concepts, try reframing your work in terms that resonate with business leaders. Here’s how you can approach it:
- Focus on measurable business outcomes: How does your design work help reduce costs, increase revenue, or open new opportunities?
- Tell a story that visualizes how design initiatives directly align with business goals.
- Highlight areas like efficiency, scalability, and risk mitigation that matter to executives.
- Present accessibility and user-centered design as industry best practices that boost the company’s reputation and market reach.
By understanding and adapting to the language of business, designers and product managers can bridge the gap between design strategy and business goals. This ensures that your contributions are not only understood but valued by the wider organization.
- Avoid UX jargon. Words like “consistency,” “empathy,” or “cognitive load” can confuse non-designers. Translate these ideas into terms that align with business goals.
- Highlight business impact. Always connect your design work to measurable business outcomes, like increased revenue, reduced costs, or expanded market reach.
- Be strategic in word choice. Instead of focusing on UX principles, talk about loyalty, risk management, compliance, and governance.
- Tell a story. Frame your work in the context of how it benefits the business, focusing on how UX can drive results in areas like efficiency, customer satisfaction, and revenue growth.
This approach allows you to show the strategic value of design and product management, ensuring that your work is recognized not just for its creativity, but also for its contribution to the company’s success.
Design as a strategic advantage
When product and design teams truly embrace their roles as business functions, the impact goes beyond the product itself. Design becomes a strategic advantage for the company. It moves from being a creative endeavor to becoming a critical part of driving business success, just like any other business function.
By shifting your mindset to focus on the business, you will not only create better products but also drive meaningful results in areas that contribute to the company’s bottom line. That’s the kind of impact that will set you apart as a product manager or designer who truly understands their role.
At the end of the day, the world doesn’t revolve around product – but when you start treating product and design as business functions, you’ll find that your work can influence every part of the business. And that’s a far more powerful position to be in.
- Why Designers Aren’t Understood by Vitaly Friedman
- Work isn't war by Jason Fried on LinkedIn
