Managing a user experience or user interface project correctly is important because it helps your team concentrate on the most vital issues for your project and complete them successfully. The Project Management Institute has found that organizations with a business strategy that overlaps with project management lead to 38% more completed projects while seeing a 33% decrease in scope creep, making the final digital product deliverable to consumers resolve their pain points while addressing user pain points and improving your workflow.

In the field of UX, design and project managers play unique functions, with the former delivering great experiences within budget and the latter scheduling and documenting the goals and needs for completing projects successfully. Cooperation from each is crucial for your business's success and a project must, but often project leaders lack the experience for the specific needs of a project, like methodologies and tools, to create great user research and analysis. As a result the product roadmap for your project can lead to an end product that lacks the vibrance of the big picture you had when deciding to take on the task of design and development.

Given how a project manager and UX designer often work together, it’s important that when choosing a design team, your options have project management skills and knowledge of how to use various tools, like Figma for wireframes, when producing a new UX for your product or service. More importantly, the design lead and UX research team you employ should feel comfortable with design systems and feel comfortable with project management software.

Rushing project initiation is not good product thinking because you haven't realized what you need to meet all the goals of the project. So it may be necessary to consider everything, even new perspectives, early on in the process.

So, in this article, we are going to outline why UX designers should have project management skills, how it will benefit your business in development projects for design, and what to look for to ensure you choose the right team for your business and project objectives.

Key Takeaways

• Designers often have a deep understanding of project manager skills
• Interesting design topics and activities for building a design culture within your team
• How a designers can help you reach your project goals
• The role of a designer or team within the scope of project progress
• How UX/UI teams can facilitate smoother communication with customers, team members and stakeholders

How to employ UX project management best practice

In many businesses, there is a lack of harmony between project management and UX teams. But, if you want to outperform the competition, you need to create a workspace where everyone feels welcome, comfortable, and willing to share their ideas. You can do so by implementing key tactics that ensure effective management while maximizing your team’s potential.

Our team consistently employs the following business practices. It has helped us to develop a culture of inclusion and improve our online presence. We are outlining these so you can understand more about our business, but more importantly, so you can implement them to improve yours.

1. Invest in a UX design team with project management skills

Yes, we are a team of UI experts, but we are not a one-man (or woman) ship. When we began our journey, it started with an idea. We quickly realized we needed people to help us improve our products and services. Running a business is difficult. It takes time, effort, and determination.

Realizing that you will benefit from help is the first step in improving your business. A UX designer has knowledge, abilities, and skills that, as a business owner, you can benefit from. Designers help ensure your products or services will resonate with customers visually and guide them into lifelong advocates for your brand.

With a UX designer on your team, you can ensure your products and services are optimized with the largest number of users in mind from the start.

2. Talk about the UX design process

Is Your business not talking about UX yet? To build a strong culture of design thinking, you need to talk about UX and UI daily. You can start by having UX small talk meetings so your team begins incorporating UX and design into everything they do. During your meetings, you could discuss the latest trends in design, discuss ideas, or host an open forum for feedback on a specific project. It will help your team align so your business can work together to reach its goals. The value of UX is reinforced when everyone on your team has UX in mind. With these meetings, you can further reinforce cross-departmental collaboration.

3. UX training for project managers and team members

If you’ve got an in-house team, you should be investing in their professional development. By investing in your team, you can help spread best practices throughout your organization. Workshops and in-depth classes are available for people at all experience levels. Teams with UX knowledge and skills enable their business to make strategic decisions that prioritize user needs, leading to increased happiness.

As for hiring n external  team, we continually invest in ourselves and our team members so we can provide businesses like yours with world-class service while integrating with your team and following your business procedures. Anyone pursuing a design career, from product teams to freelancers, will

4. UX seminars

Product designers and developers from all backgrounds will benefit greatly from seminars covering specific design topics. A workshop can deeply explore topics like:

• UX methods
• User research techniques
• Information Architecture
• Interface design

When a business enables its staff to grow, it can transform its business by offering excellent customer experiences through training and practical coaching. You can also take this time to talk about new software developments your team could adopt when you find something new that aligns with your goals.

5. Participate in scrums for managing projects

If your business is already using scrum methodology to make the most of your projects, you should include UX-related discussions. Incorporating talks will lead to increased adoption in development processes, which will help your team work together like a well-oiled machine. You can boost your product development and make products better for users. In the process, you will build in time for iterations as a result of the nature of the scrum methodology.

How can a design project team boost collaboration within your team?

Let’s examine how project managers and designers can work together while completing their tasks and meeting their responsibilities.

Design process leading for prototypes and wireframing

Project managers oversee the various phases of your project, leading it from conception to final product. UX designers curate each user touchpoint of your product during the development phase and provide value to the end user. From these two distinct project approaches, a clear view of your project emerges. Designers are present and involved at every stage of development more intimately, particularly in regard to branding, design, functionality, and, in some cases, advertising.

The fundamental approaches of the design and project manager are the same. Design itself is a micro project within a project. So, it is best to consider it as its own project, and the UX designer can take the lead in guiding the team to develop your idea and turn it into a reality. These two roles should work together harmoniously to create your vision.

Resolving issues and challenges

Both the project manager and lead designer should have problem-solving skills. Even with the most meticulous team, problems will arise; they are inevitable. In such an instance, teams can benefit from shared discussions and transfer of ideology on how to approach and solve issues.

Together, they can work with the project manager to focus on their strength while reducing the possibility of an adverse outcome.

Approaching issues with a dynamic approach can drastically increase customer satisfaction as multiple points of view are considered.

Teams can enhance your current team and work synchronously with them to approach difficult tasks.

Collaborate better with communication

UX design relies on input from various individuals. So, a UX team can help to ensure multiple teams of individuals are on the same page and communicating effectively. Team-based design is essential, but the focus here is the role UX designers and project managers can play in coordinating the communication and execution of ideas within your team and with stakeholders.

Alternatively they can help your business by relieving stress and taking on the role of the messenger within their respective group of designers. As a result, your team will be focused on one goal and receive update or modification requests quickly to produce changes more rapidly.

Improving product design and user interface with user research and project management software

Combining the talents of your team with an external or in-house team of designers will enable easier collaboration through the use of tools that boost the ability to communicate. These tools facilitate the incorporation of technology, allowing various teams, internally or externally, to work comfortably together.

Project management tools often employed by teams of designers make things easier when:

• Doing research
• Coming up with ideas
• Developing design strategy
• Creating a design
• Expressing your brand visually
• Constructing something new from nothing but an idea

Using tools that tenable all the above allows your team to stay focused on the task at hand while providing powerful communication channels that exploit your team’s potential.

Easier client and stakeholder Management

Designers are receiving increased pressure to interact directly with customers to make processes more user-centric. Similarly, a project manager interacts directly with people to facilitate the successful completion of a task.

When these two forces combine, you will enable frictionless communication and faster development, and customers will be happier. The improved alignment in your organization will decrease the necessary resources, like time and money, to complete and deploy a project.

UX design project management skills will lead to a successful UX

Can you see why it’s important for your business to work with a team that understands the importance of integration with your business? By strategically hiring an internal or external team of designers, you can rapidly traverse the digital world we live in and reach customers more quickly.

Your company can create a user-first strategy that will differentiate your products and services from businesses that have failed to lean into design thinking and business strategy.

Combining UX design and project management improvements is inevitable.

You will see improvements in:

• Efficiency
• Internal procedures
• External communication
• Teamwork
• Risk management

These combined create a culture of design thinking and UX management.

Summary

Most designers know project management. It is the result of working with multiple people to produce a product that people adore. Design teams like Tenscope have a background in project management and enhance your business and product in every conceivable way.

Your company’s success depends on stellar experiences and exceptional customer service.

If your business fails to put customers at the forefront of its operations, people will notice. It will negatively affect the perception of your business online and reduce customer satisfaction.

But, by working with a team, you can forget these issues and watch your brand thrive and grow in the digital world.

Do you need help managing a project or simply want a designer’s point of view when iterating or producing your ideas into products and services? If so, we invite you to click the yellow button in the top right of your screen. Once you do, you will have the option to book a constellation with our team.

During your consultation, we will listen to your concerns and show you how we can help you overcome them with a strategic plan. We do this by integrating into your business and optimizing existing processes and approaches by incorporating design thinking.

Frequently Asked Questions

Do UX designers need project management?

UX designers need project management to ensure their projects are completed on time, under budget, and with the highest possible quality. Project managers also need to understand UX in order to understand what is feasible to deliver, while UX designers need to understand project management to be able to convey potential issues.

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What is the best project management for UX?

The best project management for UX Designers is to follow the most common advice, staying organized and being flexible when necessary. Utilizing different methods to track tasks and progress will help ensure that projects remain on schedule. Ultimately, staying organized and proactive while paying attention to detail will lead to success.

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How can Agile methodologies benefit UX projects?

Agile methodologies enable teams to collaborate more effectively, develop projects more quickly and adapt to changing requirements more easily, resulting in improved UX design.

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What are some effective collaboration tools for design management?

Effective collaboration tools for UX project  include UXPin Merge, Storybook, Miro, Mural, Google Jamboard, Slack, Google Chat & Spaces, Asana, Typeform, Sketch, InVision, UserZoom, Useberry, Maze, and Mockplus iDoc.

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How can I prevent and manage scope creep?

To prevent and manage scope creep, clearly define the project scope, plan thoroughly and communicate effectively with stakeholders.