5 Responses

  1. Susan Wilhite
    Susan Wilhite at |

    In our nascent field we have been sensitive to criticism that some people are actually qualified and have done real UX, and those who are faking it are catching a rising career and holding no talent or expertise much less passion. As with myths and legends, a part of this is probably and regrettably valid. Conversely, stakeholder expectations have tied UX to prior work of, for instance, market research, and those were different tools in other eras. And yet the haphazard growth of UX is indicative of the requirements that founded its existence, and thus the power of its birth. People do hop bandwagons when the bandwagon is going somewhere and attracting attention.

    Lis, your point may be that our field and the domains we practice in have matured to the point where we can afford to show our real hairy, smelly, loose worlds that we are small parts of. We can console ourselves with Einstein’s thought, “In theory, theory and practice are the same. In practice, they are not.”

    Reply
    1. Lis Hubert
      Lis Hubert at |

      Great points Susan! Def something to reflect on. Thanks!

      Reply
  2. Brian Durkin
    Brian Durkin at |

    Great post. I think, for me, it comes down to what has worked in the past mixed with what I know I need to do. Have I worked on interviewing users to get qualitative data? Yes. Have I done this for every project I have worked on? No and that is the unfortunate part. I know this is something that should happen but it just isn’t up to me to make that decision (even though I think it should be.) It is up to the stakeholders to “allow” it to happen. Someone needs to pay for it and if you can’t convince someone “we need to do it right”, then you need to adjust the process to work for the stakeholder/company/team.

    Being Lean in your process is having a Lean process.

    I know what “should” happen to create a great product and the issue is, it isn’t up to me most of the time. I do find it very exciting that companies are finally starting to listen to us as UX professionals and that we are seeing interaction design based start-ups but in the end, the client is always right and if they don’t want to test, if they don’t want to storyboard, if they don’t want to do a design studio or create a mood board, if they don’t want to iterate and collaborate, then they suck…I mean they are right. 😉

    Reply
    1. Lis Hubert
      Lis Hubert at |

      Here here! Well said Brian!

      Reply
    2. Donna Lichaw
      Donna Lichaw at |

      Become a stakeholder! I spent the week doing user research and design studios because I said so 🙂 And I’m doing more UX as a product manager than ever before because I have no choice if I want create products that people want to actually use and pay for. Win win.

      Reply

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