Sarah Wingfield

^{Digital Media Issues Blog #6 – Digital Product Management}

“Digital Product Manager” (DPM) is a brand new title to me. Yet, after diving into this week’s materials, I realized…digital product management is exactly what I do every day as the Digital Media Specialist for my organization. On a daily basis, I am discussing web page layouts, functionality, user needs, process optimization, and information accessibility from the meandering, inquisitive thoughts in passing from a coworker at the water cooler, to a “final” product (in quotes because anyone in digital or web management understands what goes live as “final” will always go through more iterations after feedback from consumers, updates from teams, etc., as discussed by Emma J. Rose and Heather N. Turner as the “iteration” and “implementation” stages of the UX creative process in their article Trust the Process: A Scalable Model for UX Pedagogy).

As defined by StudioLabs in their blog post The Art & Science of Digital Product Management: Essential Strategies for Mastering the Craft, “Digital product management encompasses the strategic planning, development, and optimization of digital products and services throughout their lifecycle. It involves understanding user needs, market trends, and technological advancements to create innovative solutions that meet customer demands while driving business growth.” In understanding this definition of DPM, these are actions I take daily–considering the external user(s) and the internal client(s) from different departments, optimizing processes for information transfer, succinctness, and ease of use among others, to planning, development, design, implementation, and iteration. The role I currently hold wears many hats, but DPM is one of them (so is UX/UI designer, copy writer and editor, sound engineer, content developer, etc.).

While this role is not directly journalistic in nature, it is a science communications role, serving as a middle-person and navigator between scientific researchers, the public, and journalists that will take the information and spread it widely. Just as Dr. Royal mentions at the beginning of her article, “These product management roles are often viewed as technology-support, not fundamental to the journalism being produced.” Digital products designed to support the dissemination of research findings are often overlooked and not viewed as significant (nearly or at all) in comparison to the research itself, leading to these digital products for communicating the research to a broader audience being treated as an afterthought rather than a significant component of the success of the research itself.

My goal for my time with this organization is to bring the impactful nature of digital products in science communication to the fore for this organization so they may be able to leverage it to their advantage and to bring attention to the vital research, conservation, and community engagement they are undertaking. Just as Dr. Royal predicts for journalism that “…media organizations will seek to better understand these emerging roles and consider the journalistic qualities that should be present in decisions associated with technology products, particularly as related to the audience’s civic and democratic participation,” we could substitute “science communication” for “media” and apply these concepts to the constantly shifting field of science communication. This is directly applicable to the challenges this organization is facing, and potential solutions.

Another hurdle we face in the science communications DPM field is echoed in the findings of Kosterich and Royal (p. 14), “They often advise leaders through data and expertise but rely on leadership to provide the resources to achieve and sustain goals. They may be in competition for resources with other organizational units. While the product mission is often aligned with organizational goals, product professionals may not yield the organizational power to attract the resources they need. The ability to do this is often comingled with the location, size, and proximity to key leadership of the product team. This scenario may be subject to change as product teams become a more central, rather than periphery, role.”

Being a process oriented and entrepreneurial individual, these hurdles seem like chicken-or-the-egg, return-on-investment issues in my eyes. As Emily Stevens acknowledges in her article for the Career Foundry, “The true value of UX design lies in creating products and services that are inclusive, accessible, and enjoyable for everybody,” so too is this the value of DPM in the setting of creating inclusive, accessible, and enjoyable digital products for the science communication field. Understanding that each of these vital components, often inherent in great digital products, creates a digital culture around such products that not only draws return consumptive audience members back for more, but inspires them to amplify these products (research, initiatives, collaborations, findings, etc.), and growing your reach and influence.

A silly (and beloved) Robin Williams (R.I.P) animated movie, Robots, had a key saying: “See a need, fill a need.” I like to think the iterative DPM process does just that by empathizing with all stakeholders, identifying gaps and needs, and managing the development of exceptional products to fulfill that need again and again. It is my hope to continue doing so in this field for decades to come.