Published on | Prototyping: From UX to Front End — Medium Bruno Arizio

The best thing about working inside agencies creative teams is the diversity of work and people that you have the opportunity to undergo in a short period.

Having experienced both sides and talking with a lot of friends in the industry I see that the way product teams measure its success is very different from creative teams.

Creative teams most valuable capital is ideas.

Ideas captivate clients, generate enthusiasm and close business deals. What I mean by that is if you don’t have a big idea, there is no release, and the project won’t find itself in customers’ hands.

In the other side of the coin, product teams deal with how actions will impact the future and daily routines of its users. It is not about ideas at all. It is about execution, doesn’t matter if you have the best idea in the world but is not executed correctly, only with engagement through time the team will be able to measure product success.

A bold idea can generate fast engagement, but soon enough someone will try to copy you and execute it better.

It won’t hold up too long if the experience is not regularly revisited. How long would Uber survive if it was released and not continually updated? Products frequently need bug solving and future planning.

John Maeda once said “when technology is the thing you want you don’t need design, but when the technology matures you don’t buy just based on technology, that is when the design comes into the foreground,” this quote essentially translates in what I mean with ideas and execution.

“When technology is the thing you want you don’t need design, but when the technology matures you don’t buy just based on technology, that is when the design comes into the foreground.” — John Maeda

Execution is the key element in product teams, in fact, engineers and developers gain way more space than they have in digital agencies. It’s is not really about how gorgeous the layouts are on Sketch or Keynote, it’s about how effective it will be in the users’ hands. It’s not about concept perfection but actual experience perfection.

In most cases, products could be way more visually attractive than they currently are, it’s just a quick search on Dribbble to find great looking redesigns of LinkedIn and Facebook but why the reality isn’t that pretty? Check out the article Pretty Pixel vs. Functional Design from Petar Stojakovic which goes in more depth about that.

Designing a product in the agency environment can sometimes be very difficult because of these mindset leaps. So to make it work you need to understand and mix their principles together.

You need to keep in mind that your superiors may sometimes expect concept work, in that case, you will have to fulfill it to make progress to real execution.

But remember that once you have your work approved by the client, it is time to focus on the product itself and not just layout. Agencies tend to valorize deliverables more than code, so it is important to make sure everyone involved with the product to be in the same boat. Once the product starts getting a shape, you have to prioritize results over means.

Holistic vision on how the players relate to each other

There are two ways agencies can get involved with products. The first is the most common which is when they are called to find a solution for a specific problem, and then the in-house team will assume it right away. The agency will work as a consulting partner to shape it and put it in the right direction. Here concept is a deliverable and primary action since the work done will serve as “just” a guide to actual execution.

The other way is when agencies are called to develop a product along the way. It usually occurs when the client isn’t ready to work in-house and decide to let the agency take control of the work. Execution is key.

A product design mindset is necessary for both situations, but when you are working as in-house/outside product team, you need to be prepared to shift your mindset and advocate primarily for your product and not for the rest of the environment.

It is very a popular thing to be undergoing through all of this, as more and more products and projects ideologies are being mixed together in the industry.

I would love to know what are your experiences as you shift from one to another and so forth. Thanks for your time and if you agree/enjoy what I’m trying to say, please leave a recommendation, it helps a lot!

Mixing different mindsets to build better products was originally published in prototypr on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Mixing different mindsets to build better products

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