First, you need to understand the entire framework of the product
1. The people involved in the product
After all, products serve people , so whether you are doing to C business, to B business, or business of the company’s internal systems, you must first understand the business parties involved in the product (note: Do not leave out any business party, even if he can only perform one operation in the branch process), the change of product function usually affects the whole body, so if you consider one less business party when you are making a product, then After the launch, Diss will be received, and product functions will also face the risk of callback.
2. The path of the product
The path of the product, to put it bluntly, is how to guide users to use our product.
The path of the product is also divided into the main path and the sub-path due to the frequency of the product function and the relationship and connection between the product functions.
The main path, as the name suggests, is the path for the product to meet the core needs of users. The main path determines the positioning and core of the product. In your future iteration process, the functional optimization involving the main path is destined to be a high priority. The sub-path is an extension path based on the function points on the main path, including but not limited to auxiliary paths, value-added service paths, operation paths, monetization paths, etc.
So after you understand the people involved in the product, you need to draw the path of the product, with the main path first and the sub-path second. By drawing the path flow chart, you will also understand how the product works and how the flow between each step is achieved. Of course, after drawing, be sure to take the flowchart to your business side to chat and add.
Only when all the functional modules of the product are made into a process, you will keep thinking about which function and step of which function is optimized in the future work process, so that you will have a higher level of how to design it. cognition.
Here’s an example at work:
A project I just took over is a CRM project within the company. The main business party involved is the company’s sales staff. Because of the accuracy of serving users, the user’s work path is the main path of the product: assigning leads – contacting leads – Converting customers – Forming business opportunities – Creating contracts – Reviewing contracts – Transferring for implementation, a very clear use path.
However, I found that the actual main path of the product is very chaotic. Each user will follow the product path according to their own usage habits, and some paths are reversed to the product process, so this has caused different user needs. Correctness, and the inaccuracy of product data, so for this product, the highest priority is to adjust the path of the product.
3. Understand the underlying data of the product
The data here is not a database, but a model of the data.
List the data involved in each functional module of the product as complete as possible, and have its own classification for the data.
For example: for different users, the product data they care about is also different, which ones are the sales concerns, which ones are the sales supervisors’ concerns, and which ones are the implementers’ concerns, so when you think about the data model, you can better Help you understand the role of the product, as well as the differences and connections between each role. And with your understanding of product data, you will also complete data segmentation and user permission settings in the process of functional design.
Second. Functional design of the product
1. The demand must be analyzed in multiple dimensions
Functions come from requirements, and users will have countless ideas about the use of products. So what exactly are requirements? How to grasp it?
Here is the view on demand described in an article by Su Jie:
There are three levels of needs: perspectives and behaviors, goals and motivations, and human nature and values.
For example, a friend suddenly tells you that he wants to exercise. This is his opinion and behavior. When you ask him why you want to exercise, he will say: I want to lose weight, this is his goal and motivation. The third level of human nature and values is usually impossible to ask, but requires you to analyze, probably because he wants to show a more perfect self.
When many needs are digging down, they can dig down to the level of human values, which is what we often refer to as Maslow’s pyramid of needs: self-actualization, respect, society, security, and physiology.
Therefore, after getting a requirement, you must dig deep into the requirement, rather than surface it, and users often express their thoughts when describing the requirement, so what should we do?
Here are 9 words from Su Jie’s article:
Listen carefully but don’t act on it.
- Listen attentively: we must listen carefully to the needs of users, usage scenarios, and market conditions, ask more why, and understand the real thoughts of users, and not limited to the user’s own dimension, but also ask more about the business involved at the same time It can truly and accurately grasp the needs of users.
- Don’t do it: But our solutions are unique and creative, don’t do it. Because there are often more than one solution to a demand, you must produce your own thinking about the demand and evaluate the optimal solution.
At every stage of product design, ask yourself: Who are the users? In what situation did you encounter the problem? Why? How can we help him solve it?
2. The functional design should be simple
In terms of simplicity, I think Apple has done the best. Whether it is Ipod, iPhone or iPad, every product is designed to be simple enough, but simplicity does not mean saving effort. Multiple considerations for the direction of deletion. That’s why Apple’s unlocking even 3-year-olds can understand the meaning of the design.
So I think the simplicity of functional design is not simple and orderly, beautiful and neat, but natural, allowing users to behave naturally.
Of course, in order to achieve nature, it is also inseparable from a theory: design thinking = user thinking.
User thinking is the user’s own thoughts and practices when making behavior judgments, so why do you need to do data burying, why do you need to do data analysis? You will also know the knowledge background system behind the user, and you will also know what kind of thinking and behavior patterns the product is facing when the product is designing its functions.
Design thinking is what you think when you complete a functional design. Just three points:
- beautiful appearance
- User understanding
- Complete design loop with other functions
Beautiful performance is based on a person’s cognition and aesthetics, and the understanding of users is how you know how users think in this process based on the user’s behavior and user’s thinking? What kind of function the user needs to solve his needs, and complete the design closed loop with other functions means that your function design cannot destroy the use experience of other functions. The combination of the three is that you do the function and make the design thinking.
What the book “don’t make me think” emphasizes is actually the core of functional simplification: don’t let users think, if you let users think, you are actually pushing away your users, and how can you prevent users from thinking? Thinking, in fact, is to let you design thinking = user thinking.
To sum up: to do a good job in product functional design, you need:
- Understand the product framework, including people (business parties), usage paths, and underlying data.
- Digging deeper
- Simple function
