Product Reviews

The app looked like developers designed it. Everything was too close together and there was no consistency in the visual language. While we had a high-fidelity prototype to build from, it wasn’t translating into the real product.

I was stuck.

Do I jump in and write the code myself? Or do I create a list of detailed issues and hand it over to the engineers? Both were time-consuming; both were short-term fixes.

But what if there was another way? What if I could teach the engineers design thinking and product intuition? That would save me time, level up the engineers, and make an infinitely better product in the process.

That was my challenge. And that’s how Product Reviews started.

I met with the engineers, shared my screen, and walked through the product as a user. I talked out loud, calling attention to every issue uncovered, and why it was an issue.

• “These two icons should match because they are for the same action.”
• “Let’s make sure the spacing matches on the top and bottom here.”
• “If we group these two buttons, it’s easier for users to find them.”

These subtle nuances helped them understand the thinking behind the decisions, which is a major part of understanding design. And you know what? After weeks of repetition, I saw their thinking change in subtle ways:

• “Which icon should we use here? This one matches the others.”
• “I added the same spacing on this list as the one on the other screen.”

It was magical. And it was all because of Product Reviews.

I want to show you how you can do these on your team.

Product Reviews

The Product Review is a structured, weekly process designed for continuous feedback, product understanding, and skill development within the product team. It happens at least once per week, and it can be done synchronously or asynchronously.

Here is how you conduct a Product Review:

1. Pick your focus for the review, which evolves with your product’s maturation.
2. Think out loud in real-time or on a Loom-style video to talk through issues.
3. Document the work in your system so the issues can be addressed.

Pick your focus

When building a new product, you can walk through all functionality in a review. There’s less surface area and higher instability, which makes it important to get full coverage. Early stage work is all about continual iteration. Layers of paint, one stroke at a time. Incorporating reviews into this rhythm is an opportunity to accelerate skill development.

As the product matures, you can start focusing on specific areas or features of the product: onboarding, account management, or the new feature you just built. It’s the same process, but with a reduced focus.

Think out loud

Whether synchronous or asynchronous, you perform the review the same way:

• Share your screen.
• Talk through issues.
• Write the issues down.

The only difference when meeting real-time is that you can have an open dialogue as a team. What’s important is not just calling out the issues, but why they’re issues—the thinking behind it. It’s important that whoever is driving has good product taste.

Document the work

When you’re done with the review, create issues in the system you use to track the work. When I do these async, I record a Loom video and embed it in a single Linear issue with all of the issues in a list. The engineers take this and break out sub-issues to complete the work.

There’s another important lesson here: The engineers have to determine how to break down the work and complete it. Sometimes the issues are grouped or combined with ongoing feature work. It’s another skill to hone.

Your Turn!

As software becomes more commoditized due to a reduced complexity to make it, instinctively knowing what and, most importantly, why something is good will be what distinguishes you as a builder. By reviewing the product and discussing decisions regularly, engineers gain exposure to design principles and product rationale.

I encourage you to try Product Reviews on your team. If your product is in the early phase, get everyone together and lead them through everything you’ve built. Talk out loud and document issues you discover. If your product is more mature, pick key areas to focus on in order to surface issues to address. Create empathy, heighten product understanding, and develop the team’s taste in order iterate your product effectively.