Matt

The question isn’t, “How can I convince my boss of the value of UX?” The question is, “How can I convince myself of the value of my own work?” What is the value of your work? Does your work have value? If it’s not obvious, it doesn’t have any.

“Return on investment” is a manager’s term. Understanding it, tracking it, and increasing it are a manager’s job, not a practitioner’s. The designer’s job is to design, to make the product effective and desirable. It’s the manager’s job to make sure money is made from its being desired. And yet, managers continue to ask design practitioners about ROI. When they ask, they aren’t seeking enlightenment. They are expressing their doubts. They are voicin…

…y violations of good interaction-design principles that were called out and vanquished by the ’90s. Apps show me confirmation dialogs but fail to offer “undo.” Developers seem adamant that users grasp the nuances of the file system. The software fails to remember simple things that the user requests every time. The app is impolite, concealing its state and its consequences, and it interrupts the user with idiotic alarms. These are well-known user-interaction failures, and it is inexplicable and unforgivable that they continue to resurface in new products today.