Product Management & Construction
In the past several months, I've been using my design and product management skills for something totally different. Building a house! As we were making progress, I started noticing the similarities between my work on software products and construction. Because of that I was able to participate in the design and project planning as well as introducing new processes to the project. This seemingly unrelated project shows how design thinking is ingrained into my thinking and reveals so much about me that I thought it's worth sharing it here.
01. Architecture is 100% UCD (user centered design)
A couple of years ago, I received applications from two architects for a UX job. At that point, I didn't know how much overlap there might be between the two fields. But here is what I learned a year after. Just like UX design, building a house starts with understanding its end-user, identifying the functions it has to perform and meticulously following many human factors (less on the cognition side) and established design principles to ensure great experiences for its future inhabitants.

You go through the ideation phase, low fidelity design, evaluation & build up the details from there. For me, being a UX designer was the start of the trouble. While I was trying to respect my architect, I found no harm in actively participating in the initial design iterations!
Early design explorations - South elevation & section
Boostani & Glaudemans Architects
02. Feedback loop & design iterations.
Designing a house requires knowing the limitations and takes creative effort to create something within those constraints. You as the owner continuously review and re-evaluate your assumptions. Once you have a full drawing set, you submit it to the city for review. And the city opens the discussion to a broader audience and invites all your future neighbors to comment on the your design.
Designing a house requires knowing the limitations and takes creative effort to create something within those constraints. You as the owner continuously review and re-evaluate your assumptions. Once you have a full drawing set, you submit it to the city for review. And the city opens the discussion to a broader audience and invites all your future neighbors to comment on the your design.
03. Using sketch app to do elevation study
I call elevation study the high fidelity design in the architectural world. It's where you define all the details that go into your living space.I'm probably the first and only person on the planet who used Sketch to design a massive amount of architectural details. I think I'm introducing a whole new untapped market for Sketch ;)
04. Electrical or let's call it interaction design
Deciding where switches should be placed and what each one should do is the equivalent to interaction design. As a designer, I was able to add this perspective to the design of my house and introduce a lot of micro interaction by using smart hub and connected switches throughout my house.
05. Problem solving, creative thinking & innovation
A product manager does all the above. Building a house could be a playground for unconventional thinking and finding better ways of doing things. You normally feel resistance at work or life when you challenge the conventions. But I was lucky with my contractors and my project became a lab for trying all sort of new things. These are a few things we are doing differently here: 
