UX professionals with any real experience who wanted their designs to go live never ignored the business needs or the system capabilities. Hell, a decade ago we used to have to code our own designs against the live back-ends in many places to get them live. Somehow this myth that UXers were just about users and unrealistic about business, and that only Product Managers knew how to do this balance, sprung up. Out of where?

What’s really going on out there in my view is

• First Apple truly showed the world that being led by a laser-like user-focused UX & Design Maniac had unbelievable results.
• Designers started to get primacy. We were even briefly talking about Chief Experience Officers. Endless articles about Design finally getting a seat at the table.
• Business had an immune reaction against the pain of having to become customer-led, and invented the Product Manager to push Design out of the decision-making seat.
• Product Managers will still get designers fired for the product under-performing (I have seen it happen). Shit rolls downhill, and the designers are downhill again.
• Product Managers decide they can do their own sketching of boxes and only need some user research and a pixel pusher to make it pretty. They’ve read about Lean and gone to Product Pad after all.

Fine, I’ll re-brand myself as a Product Manager then.