Written by: Liting 2022 Cohort
Orientation
Before the start of Neesh project, I plan to play a research-oriented UX designer. In addition to being responsible for clients’ requirements analysis (understanding of project background) and product process analysis. In this role, I would provide research support for product design direction, function point design direction, and overall interaction process design.
Contribution
I found that my role changed during the development of the Neesh project; in addition to playing the research-oriented UX designer, I also participated in the work of Researcher and Product manager, including the analysis of competing products shared by similar communities, the collection of design styles, and the formulation of teamwork processes, etc. Regarding team management, I need to support our team members in sorting out the problems at each stage, formulate the discussion ideas for the meeting, and summarize the direction for the next step.
Although the role I played in this Neesh project was beyond my previous personal expectations, I still regard it as a treasure of exercise for me. I am grateful that our team members can patiently listen to me and share my experience Personal experience and understanding of the product design process.
In the end, I am pretty proud of our team’s accomplishments. We took all team members’ ideas, and we created a very logical and relatively complete new functional module for our clients.
Reflection
1. Main impacting
The Neesh project was my first actual project after I came to Pre-MDM school; it was a wonderful experience. I am surprised I can play a management role on this team because I used to play more roles in a group, such as being an observer, listener, and one-on-one communicator. This project also helped me come out of my comfort zone.
2. Self-deficiency
Although the purpose of our Neesh project cooperation this time is mainly on the cultivation of teamwork and communication skills, many problems and details are worthy of summary.
��� Don’t be stuck in the past experience; break the rules and update your inherent concept at any time.
More project experience is an advantage, but it is also a disadvantage. Even though I have experience in similar projects, I can avoid making mistakes better, but it is also easy to fall into my mode trap. For example, if I believe that a particular interaction mode is correct and recognized by society, in this case, I will ignore creativity in pursuit of efficiency. In this sense, my teammates have taught me a lot. Maintaining enthusiasm and the confidence to experiment with new features and solutions may contribute to a better user experience.
��� Meetings are all about providing clarity to confusing decisions.
We should have explicitly discussed the outcomes of multiple meetings in the early stages of the Neesh project, only confusing concepts and making it difficult for us to interact with clients. We talked a lot for 1-2 hours without reaching any conclusions or making any points. At this time, the Agenda approach learned in Aida’s class came in handy for us. Our meeting efficiency has dramatically increased since we planned ahead of time. We will plan what problems to solve at this meeting, what to do next, and to what extent before the meeting. The clarity and accuracy with which the meeting’s decisions were communicated became the key to our eventual efficient cooperation.
Summary
Many unexpected problems often occur in projects, but that makes sense because there is no way to guess people‘s thinking. Through this experience, I learned a lot from Ty about ways to communicate positively, and I also learned a lot about how to expand my thinking from my teammates. Furthermore, I found that PM is a very draining role. It demands not just high abilities to coordinate but also good communication skills, leadership skills, and overall emotional awareness. I aim to be able to hold this role in the future and exercise myself.