4 ways Ux Designers are killing their jobs

In 2009 I wrote a seemingly innocent post for Johnny Holland headlined “Is Ux becoming a Commodity?” The piece was received with an unexpected passion with some commenting with shock and displeasure. I started the piece as follows:

“After 10 years in the field, I woke up one day to realise that my service as a Ux practitioner had become a commodity. Usability had become the ‘in thing’ and everyone could do it and show that their products were better than the competition. Usability as a buzzword, populated Product Life-cycle processes in many organizations. So it comes as no surprise when the general attitude of stakeholders these days is one of a shopper saying: ‘One McUser Experience with usability fries please.’”

Today 7 years later I still feel the same as I have witnessed the first hand erosion of our field with many companies replacing Ux talents with more technically minded talent who just happen to have a knack for “design”. Also so many of my friends have left the field for roles in Product Design, Product Management and some leaving the fieled all together as they simply don’t see career paths in the field. Not surprising at all but what went wrong?

In this piece, instead of opening up old wounds and telling my peers that our field is now a full fledged commodity, I suggest 4 tips for Ux and Product Design Experience practitioners to remain relevant and not kill their careers.

1. Stop Focusing on the Tool Du Jour from back in the Day! — I am continually amazed when some of my peers send me their Cv for review, that most of their “tools” knowledge is so dated — in some cases the tool may no longer exist in its current form or even owned by the same company. Many designers begrudgingly learnt a few tools back in the day to respond to a need by development for better idea visualization. Today many still cling to these tools as the holy grail of tools of their trade. Consider reviving your toolset currency. Is it still relevant as a way to communicate with your stakeholders? Can you transfer some of your base knowledge to update your skills?
2. Not Everyone gets design -and that’s ok! — I was one of these designers turned off by some people (clients, stakeholders, friends, etc) who simply did not get it. From their comments on colour to pixel sizes or affordances used in a design, it drove me crazy. I have since learned to accept it and realise that while many designers revel in the nuances of our visual expression, for some its all Greek. Get over it! Consider thinking of how to convey your design vision in the manner that speaks best to your client and stakeholders who need convincing. Where you may see the nuanced difference of a designed object being flat and modern, your boss, client and other stakeholders may not get it as they are not tuned in to the the slight visual nuances as you are. You can take the conversation a bit higher than focusing on why you think a flat design looks better. Talk instead about the product ecosystem and the design zeitgeist that influenced a design direction at a tactical level. Decision makers with the money are more inclined to connect at this level than any other.
3. Get to Know Agile — for goodness sake! — Ok I am a perpetrator. Waterfall model was designer heaven with lots of time to muse, iterate and sometimes even engage in parallel design exploration. The Waterfall model (6 weeks average cycle) rest on the ideals that phases happened in neat little packages as follows: Requirements, Design, Implementation, Integration, Testing, Installation/ Release, Maintenance. Designers were clearly under less time strain as they were often involved in many of the phases especially designing and testing (user validation). Today, as more companies embrace Agile, there is more of a need to think on your feet with shorter release sprints. With 2–3 weeks the traditional Ux talent does not have enough time to recruit users, iterate, redesign. The role of the Designer has evolved to that likened to a concierge role. He or she has to have on-the-go solutions, often based on past experiences and best practices. Reconsider how you can add value to your team practicing Agile in shorter time frames — i.e a condensed Waterfall model. A challenge no doubt — but possible. For example, an all expert Heuristic review may have to replace the user testing and lengthy report you thought was the only option. Seriously the rest of the world has moved on and you do not want to get left behind.
4. Get out of the Lab! I have been socialized with a generation of Ux practitioners who feel most comfortable in the lab, continuing to espoused the common “6 out of 10 user” and writing up lengthy reports that no one reads. Someone once told me that “Nothing happens in the office”. Substitute the last word for “lab”. Realistically you stand a better chance of product improvement by being in toe with Product Management on customer visits feeling the customers pain and strategically driving for development resources to have a greater impact. Further, consider spending more time on Forums and Beta sites of your product and that of your competitor for an even deeper foray into your customers’ mind. Being an insider to your customer thoughts and concerns holds more weight than allowing lab results to be the only insight into customer’s world.

Hope this was helpful you my peers! Keep your dream job alive!