4 soft skills needed for every senior product designer

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We all know that craft and technical skills are essential to being a good product designer. But what about soft skills?
Here are 4 soft skills for every product designer to work on to excel in their career.
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Time management, prioritization and focus time as a designer: • Time management, prior...
//TIMESTAMPS
00:00 - Intro
1:08 - Stakeholder management
3:15 - Communication
5:49 - Async videos with Loom
8:23 - Empathy
10:05 - Self awareness and influence
13:45 - Outro
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[@Closhen]

Just discovered your channel. You are legit the best.

[@hannamittenzwei5822]

You are crushing it on KZbin, Femke! Love the new setup and lighting! Also, great content!! I've just been promoted to mid-level product designer and I found this video super helpful to understand in which areas I can already start growing to get to the next level in my career! 🚀

[@femkedesign]

Thanks Hanna!!! Congrats on your promotion and good luck on your future growth!

[@huwball]

Ugh - influence....so powerful but so hard to master. 100% agreed it's so important

[@femkedesign]

Definitely isn't something that can be built overnight - can take years to master but it's an ongoing journey :)

[@pbx7777]

Thank you! Your videos always cheer me up to keep going. :)

[@femkedesign]

That's awesome to hear!

[@RJ100]

so valuable. had to watch twice. thanks Fem.

[@femkedesign]

Glad it was helpful RJ :)

[@helloimnirmala]

It's true, Currently, I am developing these skills. Thank you femake!

[@femkedesign]

Awesome!

[@miprimerdepa]

thanks for this vid! 🙌

[@femkedesign]

No problem!!

[@nicole_nico22]

Hi Femke, thank you for your video. I love the content in this video! Could you share the public speaking course that you mentioned in the video?

[@sharonchoi6087]

Thanks for sharing! These are great points. Do you have recommendations for public speaking or storytelling course?

[@femkedesign]

The course I took was in person - my previous employer organised it :) I'm sure Coursera or Teachable has something that would be valuable :)

[@LorettaBangBang]

Taking a public speaking course to improve your communication at work was such a good point to make. As I am not good at verbal communication I always wondered how other designers are doing this!!

[@femkedesign]

Yes!!! It was game changing for me.

[@elisehsieh9605]

@@femkedesign I am on the same boat as JM. Femke, how long have you been taking public speaking classes? Do you have any recommendations for virtual courses? Especially lately, we've been holding more virtual meetings. I have been watching your videos for over a year now. You always amaze me with the positive and fun energy you bring here along with the depth of your content. Keep up the good work, and Many thanks. 😊

[@codewithguillaume]

Well I am not a senior product designer but I highly recognize the skills you are describing ! Thank you so much Femke :)

[@femkedesign]

Thanks for watching!

[@KumaPrincess08]

What is the difference between influence and politics?? I find it very hard to understand working in a big company + cultural shocks about the relationship with co-workers in the USA. How is it in other countries? I learned that you cannot be a friend of someone you are working with, and if you do, people use you to make politics and get benefits for themselves (in my country, you hang out a lot with your co-workers that you finish having strong relationships and we help us to grow). I am looking for a senior position, but it is stressful since others in the team want the same (and who wants something else?). Still, sometimes they are rude or minimize others' work to look for "the impact" of their work... so weird and very competitive environment. We are all great designers. I needed time during the holidays to recover my mental health, so I took almost 3 weeks to rest from work. Not sure if this is the right place to express myself and if someone in my team is reading me, I appreciate you but I also need to understand why I feel the stress of this competitive game

[@livtorczon3183]

Hi Femke! Thanks for sharing. You referenced the Northstar quite a bit and in my current role, we have a new designer trying to explain the value of a Northstar and inputs/outputs to our team and we just can't seem to grasp it. Would love a video on this if you have any recommendations/formula's, etc. :) Thank you again for all of your amazing videos

[@femkedesign]

Thanks for the suggestion! North star is like what could we build in a perfect world - what is our ambition on where we want to get to.

[@souvik920]

Video quality rocks. As well as content

[@femkedesign]

Thank you!

[@hussainawardhawala7348]

Hey Femke, this is another great video! Thank you for bringing it to the community. How do you speak about these soft skills in a recruiter screening call and behvavioral interviews?

[@femkedesign]

I make sure to mention how these soft skills empower me to excel in my job or provide more value back to the team.

[@melktart]

The other thing that I selfishly love about Loom is that instead of spending 30 minutes typing out a novel in slack, I can just talk through my ideas in a video and I can show my audience specifically what I'm talking about. It honestly saves EVERYONE time.

[@femkedesign]

Yes!!!!

[@AjiNMoto]

as a non-native english speaker, working in a foreign country combined with some of my shortcomings (not the quickest to dissect what's being said and articulate response, be it a question or a suggestion, especially when dealing with top management) this is difficult. On the verge of quitting after 10 year long career. There are natural limitations to what one can do.

[@femkedesign]

I can't imagine how difficult that must be. As an immigrant I empathize hugely with the difficulties of working in a foreign country.

[@masha3365]

I feel you. Look into a public speaking course or better - Toastmasters. They practice to speak on the spot!

[@clausiuskelvin2354]

Hello femke. Hola femke.

[@adrenaline328]

Great list and walk through. I like your new music! But the paper shuffling sound really distracted me.

[@femkedesign]

Thanks for the feedback!