Practicing Empathy Is a Great Way to Become a Better Product Manager

It’s a skill we use daily but also essential for our profession.

You can’t design something that people will love if you don’t understand how they feel. And the only way to know how people think is by putting yourself in their shoes and looking at things from their perspective.

We’ve all been there:

You’re trying to explain something to someone, but they don’t seem to get it. The words are coming out of your mouth, but it’s as if they’re going over their head.

Your product is supposed to be intuitive and easy to use. Luckily, there are ways to help you understand what your users want and how they want it delivered.

Here are some ways to practice putting yourself into the mindset of a beginner:

1. Practice putting ourselves into a beginner’s mindset to identify problems that new users would face quickly.
2. Walk through the entire product flow from beginning to end.
3. Imagine you’re unfamiliar with the product.
4. Find the confusing areas.
5. Discover what symbols or icons are ambiguous.

If you can do this effectively, you’ll be able to identify problems that new users would face quickly.

Maayan Galperin,

Product Manager