When I read this, I thought to myself, “Geez, this is what a designer does.” I think there is a lot of overlap between what we do as product designers and what product managers do. One critical one—in my opinion, and why we’re calling ourselves product designers—is product sense. Product sense is the skill of finding real user needs and creating solutions that have impact.

So I think people can read this with two lenses:

• If you’re a designer who executes the assignments you’re given, jumping into Figma right away, read this to be more well-rounded and understand the why of what you’re making.
• If you’re a designer who spends 80% of your time questioning everything and defining the problem, and only 20% of your time in Figma, read this to see how much overlap you actually have with a PM.

BTW, if you’re in the first bucket, I highly encourage you to gain the skills necessary to migrate to the second bucket.

While designers often stay on top of visual design trends or the latest best practices from NNG, Jules Walter suggests an even wider aperture. Writing in Lenny’s Newsletter:

Another practice for developing creativity is to spend time learning about emerging trends in technology, society, and regulations. Changes in the industry create opportunities for launching new products that can address user needs in new ways. As a PM, you want to understand what’s possible in your domain in order to come up with creative solutions.