Our last Tales of Design Session was about unleashing creativity into the business world. Speaker Christopher Nguyen, Founder of UX Playbook, shared his experiential insights about growing in the design world. Here are six key takeaways from his session.

Follow effort-impact matrix to create product roadmap

A product roadmap is an essential tool used by product teams to prioritize their tasks. To make the most of this tool, one should prioritize tasks with the effort-impact matrix. It’s important to focus on initiatives that require the least effort and have the highest impact.

Pro tip – Best practice is to have a buffer. Having some extra time built into the roadmap can help mitigate unexpected delays.

Balancing business goals and user solutions

To drive growth and customer satisfaction, a product designing team must create a balance between business goals and user needs.

The first step to achieving this balance is prioritizing business needs and then molding the solutions for users to meet the business needs. As designers, you must bring data-backed solutions that resonate with the users and benefit the business.

Don’t ignore the business aspect when creating a product

A product is successful when it can generate high revenue. While creating a user-friendly product is essential, it’s equally important to consider the business aspect.

Keep-up with design trends

Staying updated with the latest design trends and tools is crucial to stay competitive in industry. The availability of online resources like tech podcasts such as The Verge, design-focused podcasts like Wireframe and design blogs like Design Details have made staying ahead the curve much easier.

Future is about prompt engineering

AI will revolutionize the design industry by reducing the time and effort to turn around projects quickly. It will help designers to design better and expand their imagination and bring even better projects to life with prompt engineering.

Maintain work-life balance

A healthy obsession with work is always good. And one should regulate work habits by taking required breaks. Your work might sometimes require a few extra hours, and getting a little obsessed with work can help you grow. But avoid burnout by taking pauses and relaxing a bit. Remember, it isn’t a one-day sprint, your work is a long run marathon.