But when the product gal has a background in design, and she sees a divergence between market and user needs, a different thing happens. She’ll leverage an empathetic lens, and she’ll also double-down on what she knows: user-centered design. She’ll focus on helping users achieve their goals and aspirations. This is distinctly a design perspective on product functionality, and it often means removing features, rather than adding them, and ignoring current site behavior rather than optimizing for it.

— Jon Kolko: Designer as Product Owner