How I transitioned from a Product Designer to a Product Manager — A battle with imposter syndrome
My transition showed me that there is so much more to learn and to create than I thought when I stayed in my design bubble. I invite more like-minded designers to explore different growth paths together!
Hello! For people who don’t know me, I’m Yunan. I have been a product designer in Meta for 5 years before transitioning to be a product manager a year ago in 2022. I recently posted on LinkedIn to invite designers to chat if they were interested in the product space. I was happily surprised that the post got high interest and led to 50+ interesting conversations!
My transition timed well with a hot topic in the design world. Many designers must felt inspired by Brian Chesky’s talk at Figma Config earlier this year:
There’s a whole new generation of designers … to help drive the product. Some of them are going to choose to drive companies. Because ultimately, what everyone wants is to have a product people love.
Many designers think about a potential move to a product role, but few take the leap. When I just started my transition two years ago, I thought it would be impossible. I’m not saying making a transition is a huge deal, but it is a significant step for me to build confidence to believe that I can achieve anything as long as I am committed. If you, like me, experience a lot of imposter syndrome when doing something new, I hope my story can give you the courage to explore more uncharted territories.
If you want to read my summarised learnings, skip my story to get to the learnings below:
Get off the treadmill and go onto the trail quickly and often
The narrow sense of user interface design is not that important
Growing as a person is more valuable than growing within a career
Me going through the ups and downs of the PM transition
01. My story
My design background and why PM
In college, I studied graphic design at Rhode Island School of Design (RISD). Afterwards, I joined Meta as a Product Designer. With my graphic design background, I was stronger in visual design execution but weaker in thinking about why we needed to build a specific product.
In my 3rd year in Meta, I focused on improving my strategic thinking skills to have more influence on the product directions. For six months, I prioritised working on long-term strategy projects, getting coaching and reading books. I enjoyed identifying target audiences, analysing user problems, innovating new ideas and prioritising opportunities. I saw great improvements in my strategic thinking. With the improved confidence, moving to a product management role started to surface in my mind.
Initially, it was extremely uncomfortable to even think about this transition. I secretly wrote down my goal to become a PM in my journal without telling anyone. When talking with my mentors, I hinted at my wish in a very hesitant voice. It took me a year to convince myself and have the courage to take action. If you are also contemplating a transition, these were questions that I considered and how I approached them. Your answers may differ, but you can get a sense from my example.
My secret fear was that people were thinking, “Who does she think she is?”
Question 1: Why PM?
Reason 1 — Building business skills: When I studied at RISD, where the Airbnb founders also studied, I felt inspired by how designers could run businesses like Airbnb. I also wanted to explore building my own business someday, so transitioning to product helped me build my business skills.
Reason 2 — PM felt “cooler” to me: Deep down, I felt being a PM was cooler than being a designer. It’s not a secret that PMs naturally “get a seat on the table” and are the decision-makers on teams. I felt there was an unspoken hierarchy between different roles and I wanted to “move up”. I normally kept this reason to myself because it sounded subjective and uninspiring, but I want to share here to show that it’s ok to have different reasons even if you don’t actually share it with others.
It’s important that you are honest to yourself about your why, because your deeper reason will be the engine to power you through the ups and downs of the transition.
After my transition, my feeling for the coolness of the PM role diminished quickly. There is no real hierarchy between different roles. It’s just different people contributing different skills that are all critical for the product.
Reason 3 — Low interest in design execution: Another reason for me was that I did not enjoy design execution anymore. I also felt uncomfortable sharing this earlier because I didn’t want to be criticized for not appreciating design craft. I do appreciate it, but it’s just not for me. I don’t think all designers have to love design execution forever just because we started from there.
Question 2: Is PM right for me?
I was lucky to get a taste of being a PM by taking an interim PM role while I still had my designer title. If you can’t get such an opportunity, one way to think about this is to:
imagine that you ARE the product manager on the team and consider what you would do differently.
The line between design and PM is very blurry, but if you intentionally change your mindset and seek guidance from other PMs, you will get a better sense after a while.
Taking on an interim PM role helped me be sure.
For me, I was clear that I would enjoy the product strategy side of the PM role since I already enjoyed that as a designer. However, I was unsure if I would enjoy the product execution side of the PM role which is about setting product goals, measuring product impact using metrics, and making educated trade-offs. To get a sense, I worked on setting goals for projects on my team. Discussing the goals and metrics while trying to have a productive conversation with a room of data scientists, engineers, senior PMs, designers, and managers was intimidating. I had multiple people referring to some of the early meetings that I led as disasters afterward. Even though I had troubles initially, after some practice, the skill became more natural to me. It took courage to do the things that I knew I was not great at yet but that was how growth worked.
Question 3: What are the tactical steps to switch?
Meta internally has an established PM transition process so it was more straightforward for me. I will share my steps, but this can be very different for everyone’s unique situation.
Getting the support: I was fortunate to get the support from my design managers and Product Manager to create space for me to explore the PM roles while I still had my design title. I’ve heard other designers encountering friction because ultimately design managers wouldn’t want to lose a great designer. But if you are committed and persistent, you will eventually create the right environment for your transition.
Taking an interim PM role: I spent three months using 50% of my time on PM works while shadowing the senior PM on my team to build team roadmaps, and another three months being 100% PM for a small project. These real-world experiences helped me identify my skill gaps. I focused on improving my analytical and communication skills, by reading, taking courses, and getting advice from real PMs. I had 200+ pages of notes on these topics.
Completing the PM interview: I spent another 3 months completing the Meta PM interviews internally. I did 100+ PM mock interviews, half with interview-calibrated PMs and half with peers who were also practicing. I’ve heard other people passing the PM interviews with a lot less mock interviews. I’m more on the paranoid side, so I did a lot more. After I passed the interview, it took me another 3 months to find the right PM role in Meta.
Completing the PM interview: I spent another 3 months completing the Meta PM interviews internally. I did 100+ PM mock interviews, half with interview-calibrated PMs and half with peers who were also practicing. I’ve heard other people passing the PM interviews with a lot less mock interviews. I’m more on the paranoid side, so I did a lot more. After I passed the interview, it took me another 3 months to find the right PM role in Meta.
I was on the paranoid side, so I did 100+ PM mock interviews.
Question 4: Am I good enough to succeed?
Dealing with imposter syndrome was the hardest part in my journey. Before my switch, I had a very rigid image of what PMs look like — outgoing, assertive and logical, which were qualities that I thought I lacked. I talked softly. I am introverted. I usually tried to avoid hard conversations. I was not good with numbers. I was not strong in building relationships with higher management.
When I shared my goal to switch, many people were surprised. Some people pointed out the gaps and questioned if I was really sure about the switch. People all had good intentions and they were supportive once I made my decision. However, the self double was always there. I had to read a lot of motivational books and had multiple encouragement sessions with people who I trusted.
Sharing my goal publicly became a great enforcement to hold myself accountable. I felt I had to continue because many people had gone out of their way to help me and it would be too disappointing and embarrassing if I gave up. (You know that feeling…)
Midway through my transition, I became overly self-conscious, fixating on fitting into the typical PM image. I got exhausted from constantly monitoring how I spoke, how to do things in the “right” way and what others thought of me. I wanted to give up. I took a two-week break to have a change of mind.
My enlightenment moment was when I realized I didn’t need to focus on fitting into the “PM mold”, but rather focus on how to achieve the best product outcome.
There is no definitive way to be a PM. As long as I can help the team achieve results, I AM a good PM.
I don’t have to be a loud extrovert to be effective. If you also experience strong imposter syndrome, try focusing on what needs to get done to achieve results, instead of how you should be behaving.
A designer who’s also interested in making a transition asked me if I’ve faced skepticism from others as a designer-turned PM. I think such doubts are mostly in our own minds rather than coming from others. Don’t take things too personally. Everyone can contribute in different ways. You are awesome.
What was it like to be a new designer-turned PM?
I intentionally chose my first PM role to focus on solving user experience related product problems so that I could leverage my design background while having the time to enhance other PM skills.
Here are the similarities and differences that I felt between being a PM and a designer:
A Product Manager’s focus is horizontal vs. A Product designer’s focus is vertical
Similarities:
I still spent a lot of time understanding different user segments and analysing user problems. My product strategy skills from my time as a designer gave me a strong foundation.
Differences:
I spread my time across multiple areas as a PM rather than focusing my time on user experience only.
I spent more time understanding higher-level organization priorities. As the PM, I had more responsibility to maximise the impact my product team could have on the company overall.
I spent more time on quantitative analysis for opportunity sizing and prioritisation. I didn’t do this as much when I was a designer. I think there is value in designers speaking more business languages, like using data to back up their suggestions and connecting design directly with product goals.
I talked more because the PM job is all about communication. This was one aspect that I enjoyed a bit less as PM since I did feel a lack of energy after talking a lot. However, all the conversations also helped me think quicker and deeper.
One aspect of design that I missed the most as a PM was the power to visualise product visions. As a PM, I could use words to describe future product directions, but I rely on my designers to visualise how the products could actually look. Looking from outside of design, It is true that designers have the superpower to show what the future could look like. A picture is worth a thousand words.
02. Learnings from my transition
1 — Get off the treadmill and go onto the trail quickly and often
I stayed in design in Meta for five years before the switch. I always had a hunch that I wanted to try the product role, but it took me a long time because I had not seen many other examples from designers. In reflection, I would have explored it a lot earlier to get out of my comfort zone quicker.
If you’re a designer contemplating a move to the product side, give it a try quickly. Like Deb Liu, previous VP of product in Meta and current CEO of Ancestry, noted:
staying on one corporate ladder is like staying on a treadmill, which only tracks very specific things, while trying out a different path is like going onto a hike on a trail where you would be rewarded with new experiences and new types of muscles.
You have little to lose, as you can always return to design, and the product skills acquired will make you a better designer after all.
The biggest surprise I had during the transition was the amount of support I got from both design and product teams. I thought people would laugh at me, but it turned out that people around me went above and beyond to help me achieve it.
People around me went above and beyond to help and encourage me when I wanted to give up
2 — The narrow sense of user interface design is not that important
When working on products, our ultimate goal is to build exceptional products. What I like the most about being a product manager is how my personal responsibility to ensure the overall product success aligns perfectly with the ultimate product goal. I can always shift my focus onto the hardest problems, which could be in the technical, marketing, user experience or other areas.
In contrast, the current responsibility of a designer is still narrowly focused on the user experience of the user interfaces. If the biggest product challenge lies outside user interfaces, the narrow sense of design is really not that important. It can become counterproductive for designers to always push for design enhancements. The design leader, John Maeda, expressed this view:
In reality, design is not that important.
However, if we look at the broader definition of design, it can still add tremendous value for solving problems that lie outside the user experience.
In my PM role, design still plays a significant part in strategising for optimal outcomes, streamlining team processes, or crafting communications for effective results. It is more important for designers to be effective problem-solving partners to work with other functions to design better solutions both within and beyond user experiences. This can be designing better marketing plans, designing better business models for designing better processes to gather user data to train technical models.
3 — Growing as a person is more valuable than growing within a career
One of the most rewarding aspects of my PM transition is how this journey to learn new skills awakened my curiosity again. Over the past two years, I have read a lot more books and articles on a wider range of topics, reached out to different people to learn new things, and questioned what I thought I knew.
While I now have titles in both PM and design, I don’t plan to focus on growing in those “careers”. I prefer thinking about myself as a product builder and improving any skill that is needed for product success. I feel really connected with what Steve Job’s said:
Don’t be a career.
The enemy of most dreams and intuitions, and one of the most dangerous and stifling concepts ever invented by humans, is the ‘Career.’ A career is a concept for how one is supposed to progress through stages during the training for and practising of your working life.
This also connects well with what I learned as a designer. I recall an assignment called “Dérive” which I had during my college time in RISD. “Dérive” asked us to take an unplanned journey in the neighborhood to seek unexpected experiences. Back then, it felt ambiguous as we didn’t have a clear goal. Now, I appreciate the beauty of “dérive” — a journey to uncover possibilities that is free from predefined goals or paths set by others. Things around us are constantly changing. How we contribute to it should also be much more dynamic than the narrowly defined “career” expectation.
“Dérive” — Take an unplanned journey through a landscape
Thank you for reading this far!
If you want to learn more about my experience. I’m always happy to chat! You can send me a message to hello@yutongyunan.com.
