Quick UX/UI/Product Design tip that will save you time — Suppose you are designing a system with two modes — VIEW and EDIT. There are reasons to do this, and reasons to avoid it. But suppose your use case necessitates it. In VIEW, you optimize for the user seeking information, and aesthetics. In EDIT mode, the fields that can be…

RBAC (Role-based Access Control) A real world analogy to RBAC- all authorized sports personnel can enter the basketball team locker room, but only the players can put on the jerseys. How is this analogous to RBAC? Security A primary goal of RBAC, or Role-Based Access Control is security. It’s at the level of authorization after…

Software Product Managers drive products to provide business value. Relating solely to the business and functional requirements- and neglecting to understand the technology behind the product- will cripple the Product Manager instead of empowering her. If your software product uses APIs (it’s rare not to), then it is likely that…

Basic tech concepts for Software Product Managers explained simply There are many great articles and explanations on this topic (list at end). I’m adding another since I will try and make it pass the ‘mom test’- explaining it so that an intelligent person without a background in the field will…

Being nitpicky and demanding is part of the job of a product owner — Ever seen a job post like this? Hiring: Product Owner / Product Manager Requirements: 3 years blah blah Job description: be annoying Of course not. No one would apply. But that’s what each and every Product Owner or Product Manager is signing up for. Toward the end of developing a…

Writing product requirements is the bread and butter of thousands of product managers or product owners worldwide. It’s how to communicate to developers what to build. Whether the medium is a ‘PRD’ (product requirements document), user story, or link to prototypes, there are endless ‘best practices’ and tips for how…

Why I enjoy working with some developers, and struggle with others — Fun Collaboration between Product Managers and Developers As a Product Manager, working with developers I like professionally can feel superbly rewarding and fun. Why do I like working with them? It’s not because they write the best code; they make my work easier. From a few meager lines of a user story I write and a quick…

Growth mindsets accelerate creating career opportunities, and help stay focused on a better future when in a rut — Background I’ve had the opportunity to work as an Organizational Psychologist consultant to the Head of the Human Resources Department in an organization with thousands of employees. In this context, I have had access to top leadership, and learned from each interaction. This experience, along with an M.Sc. …

Stay focused on what your user needs to answer — As a UX Designer, I’ve worked on analytics dashboards for companies across multiple industries. Cybersecurity, consumer goods, defense, Business Intelligence tools, AI, and other complex systems. …