Product Management
& User Experience:
Are they the right career paths for you?
Rob Houser
Sr Director, Product Management
@ Sage
About Me
 Technical Writing
 Training
 Usability/Design
 UX Consulting
 Managing UX Teams
 Product Management
 Managing PM Team
Career focused on understanding
users of software and designing ways
to help them achieve their goals
Later in Life
Realization:
So they will buy our products and
services and my company will
generate revenue for its shareholders
What do we have in common?
 Problem Solving
 Innovation
 Curiosity
 Knowledge
 Learning
 Enjoyment of Technology
+ PATTERN IDENTIFICATION
What is UX?
USER EXPERIENCE
 Intentional design of the end-to-end series of interactions for
products, systems, and services
 Developing products and services through a user-centered
design process
 Not just about making products easy to use, but also about
making the entire experience enjoyable
 Focused on users (not usually on customers) – how people
work
What UX jobs are available?
Traditional UX Jobs
 Usability Analyst
 Interaction Designers
 Information Architect
 Visual Designer
Adjacent Opportunities
 Prototype Developer
 UI Developer
Usability Analysts
What do they do?
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Conduct user research (in the lab and in the field)
Create personas and scenarios to keep the focus on the users
Analyze user research and identify key UX moments of truth
Works with PM and R&D on product innovation/improvement
What skills do they need?
 Interview and observe users for insights
 Surveys, usability tests, contextual inquiries, card sorts, affinity
diagrams, and other methods for understanding user needs
 Strong analytical skills to identify key findings from studies
 Psychology, statistics, human factors/human-computer interaction
What personality types are attracted to this job?
 Detail-oriented, analytical, thorough, empathetic, organized,
objective, able to apply established principles to new situations
Interaction Designers
What do they do?
 Identify layout of software UI
 Choose appropriate interactions and behaviors based on usability
requirements
 Ensure consistency of design patterns
 Creates wireframes (and mockups) to provide design requirements
What skills do they need?
 Problem solving, conceptualize complex systems and make them
simpler, UI knowledge (know what is possible), flow charting, wireframes
What personality types are attracted to this job?
 Big picture people who see patterns easily, strong conceptual thinkers,
comfortable with frequent change, able to identify multiple solutions to a
problem quickly, collaboration, creative thinkers, logical, thick-skinned
Information Architect
What do they do?
 Organizes and labels information (websites, communities, applications)
 Creates navigation and signage
 Sometimes the same person as the Interaction Designer
What skills do they need?
 Flow analysis/diagramming, visual design, conceptualize complex
systems and make them simpler, knowledge of wayfinding
What personality types are attracted to this job?
 Big picture people who see patterns easily, strong conceptual thinkers,
comfortable with frequent change, able to identify multiple solutions to a
problem quickly, collaboration
Visual Designers
What do they do?
 Develop mockups and graphic assets for the UI, create the skins for the
UI, sometimes oversee/manage UI requirements/consistency
What skills do they need?
 Graphic design, artistic ability, sometimes basic prototyping (not usually
coded in the target language), animation, video creation/editing
What personality types are attracted to this job?
 Artists, highly creative, extremely detail-oriented, perfectionists, introverts
Adjacent Opportunities
 Prototype Developers
 UI Developers
Is UX right for you?
 Do you enjoy the early phases of software development,
especially the analysis and design phases?
 Do any of these specific UX jobs sound interesting to you?
 Do you tend to interact with products and services and
immediately see ways to make them better?
What is PM?
PRODUCT MANAGEMENT
 Focused on customers (more than users) – why people buy
 Responsible for understanding the market and developing
(build, buy, or partner) products and services
 Strong emphasis on the business side of software
development
 Often the bridge between R&D and the rest of the business
(Sales/Marketing/Partner Channel/Support)
What PM jobs are available?
Traditional PM Jobs
 Product Manager
 Business Analyst
 Market Researcher
Adjacent Opportunities
 BA/SME for complex/technical systems
 Analytics expert/interpreter
Product Managers
What do they do?
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Talks to customers frequently to understand their wants and needs
Sets product roadmaps and strategy working with business leaders
Develops and presents business cases to drive new business
Represents the business at public events, especially trade shows
Product evangelist, conducting demos to customers and prospects
Often responsible for leading product innovation
What skills do they need?
 Market research, business planning/financial analysis, persuasive
presentations, leadership, project management, strong interviewing skills,
problem solver, MBA a big plus
What personality types are attracted to this job?
 Creative, analytical thinkers, futuristic/strategic thinkers (can see
possibilities), innovators, strong collaboration, interested in helping people
Business Analysts
What do they do?
 Identifies requirements for products, systems, and services
 Creates stories for agile teams
 Works with R&D on day-to-day development; may also be the primary
interface with IS/IT or external data/systems management
 May serve as product owner
What skills do they need?
 Technical knowledge of the system(s) being extended or connected to, ability
to write requirements documentation from a user perspective (stories),
project management, highly organized, collaboration, problem solving
What personality types are attracted to this job?
 Extremely detail and schedule oriented, enjoys completion/closure,
practical/pragmatic, responsible, dependable, well-organized, hard working,
many are introverted
Market Researchers
What do they do?
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Creates, conducts, and analyzes survey results
Run or organize focus groups or other customer interview methods
Analyzes market research from third parties
Reviews events and stories in the news media
Conducts competitive analyses
Shares important data and insights with the internal organization
What skills do they need?
 Market research, analysis, written communication (reports), presentations,
knowledge of business finances and market valuations
What personality types are attracted to this job?
 Extremely detail-oriented, practical, analytical, introverted, well-organized
Adjacent Opportunities
 BAs/SMEs for complex/technical systems
 Analytics expert/interpreters
Is PM right for you?
 Are you interested in the business side of software as much
as the technical side?
 Are you able to get others to do what you need them to do?
 Do you want to manage the business one day (outside of
managing a single group/department)?
Relative Pay
 Visual Designer
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Interaction Designer
Information Architect
Market Researcher
Analytics expert/interpreter
Warning: This list is meant to be illustrative
and is not based on any research. Salaries
have wide ranges and are based on more
factors than job title alone.
 Usability Analyst
 Prototype Developer
 Business Analyst
 Baseline: Software Developer
 UI Developer
 BA/SME for complex/technical systems
 Product Manager
Q&A
Traditional PM Jobs
Traditional UX Jobs
 Product Manager
 Business Analyst
 Market Researcher
 Usability Analyst
 Interaction Designer
 Information Architect
 Visual Designer
Adjacent Opportunities
 BA/SME for complex/technical systems
 Analytics expert/interpreter
Adjacent Opportunities
 Prototype Developer
 UI Developer
rob.houser@sage.com