Your project manager values speed over user experience. How can you ensure your app remains user-friendly?

Precisa existir um equilíbrio entre inovação e testes de usabilidade, porque quando você vai entrevistar um usuário, por mais que sua ideia seja incrível, e os testes tenham sido super positivos, ele (o usuário) só vai entender o real valor do seu produto, quando ele realmente estiver usando no dia-a-dia. O papel do designer e time de produto é sempre minimizar os riscos e atritos entre produto e usuário.

To maintain a user-friendly app while accommodating a project manager’s emphasis on speed, it is essential to integrate user feedback into the development process. Implementing iterative design cycles that prioritize critical usability features can help strike a balance between rapid deployment and enhanced user experience. Utilizing rapid prototyping allows for swift testing and refinement based on real-user interactions, ensuring that core functionalities remain intuitive. Additionally, leveraging automated usability testing tools can help identify potential pain points without significantly delaying the project timeline, thereby aligning speed with user satisfaction.

Begin by prioritising user stories and starting with High Value, Low Effort. Use the quadrant technique if you need to. These Items are the ones that create substantial value to the user and give the greatest benefit relative to effort. Do not ignore High Value, High Effort as these may be your products uniqueness that set you above your competitors. By starting with the quicker high value items first though you’ll gain the traction and revenue needed to build those too! This is fundamental with agile and makes customers and colleagues happy.

MVPs are good for a soft launch or among curated users, but releasing too early to a wide audience could give a bad impression of the brand if not adequately indicated. There are users who may not come back if something feels incomplete and they are expecting it to be complete. Announcing that the product is in early testing or "alpha" or "beta" could be a better idea, and the users will feel like they are on the ground level and be a little more forgiving if certain features are missing or not fleshed out.

The pressure to ship often wins the battle over thoughtful UX (even though it costs less to do it right the first time than to fix it later). When this happens, it is helpful to bake user engagement into the experience. This can be done using a platform (like Pendo, WalkMe, or Intercom), or you can roll your own. This allows you to open a channel to the user at critical points in the experience or when you introduce new features. While it’s still preferable to invest in solid UXR up front (every dollar invested in UX returns between $2 and $100 later), thoughtful engagement within the platform can make up some of the difference.

In addition to the mentioned points, other important considerations include accessibility, ensuring the app is usable by everyone, including people with disabilities. Security is crucial, protecting user data with robust practices. Internationalization and localization are vital for global audiences. Clear documentation and maintenance facilitate future updates. Plan for scalability to support user growth. Consider integration with other systems and use automated testing to ensure continuous quality. These aspects enhance user experience and project sustainability.

Consider advocating for incremental improvements. By implementing small, user-centric changes iteratively, you can ensure the app remains user-friendly while aligning with the project manager's speed priorities. This approach allows for continuous enhancement without overwhelming the development process.

We are talking about a project manager here, not a product owner or sponsor. Big difference. So, first, it's critical to identify the potential for negative business impact. If an argument can be made that quality is being compromised to a point that jeopardizes stated project goals (such as speed to or reduced task completion) or forever goals (such as impact to revenue), and if the PM is obstinant in increasing risk, I would escalate the matter to product owners and sponsors to ensure that business impact is protected. Ethics matter in this regard. This may involve a course correction for the PM in this case. They may require training.