One of the most common question in interviews, which often come from product managers themselves, is: “How do you work with product managers as a product designer?”

I’ve heard this question asked many times because it’s so important that product designers work well together with product managers. 

And while there is no one “right” answer to the question, I’ve heard from many product managers that they’re looking for a partner. They want to work with a product designer who can strategize with them and think critically about the problem. not just sit around waiting for to be handed problems to deliver solutions.  

In order to be a truly successful product designer in today's product world, you need to think like a product manager.

That means that you need to:

• Be involved in strategic meetings.

• Discuss and collaborate with engineers, research, and other stakeholders.

• Collect and analyze data to understand the problem at hand.

This is analogous to how product managers can take on “design” responsibilities, such as QA, user research, and occasionally even wireframing. As a product designer, though you are the champion for the user, you also have to align with your internal stakeholders to get behind your designs.

Design is not just the responsibility of product designers, just as the strategy is not just the responsibility of product managers.