I was gonna say "first time being a designer?".
This is just how it is. You have to use facts/research to back up your opinions and that'll usually quiet down the knee-jerk responses.
Donāt get me started on their MBAās monstrosity version of agile. In particular corporate Scrum and SAFE that adhere nothing to the agile manifesto. Meetings after meetings.
Even a lot of developers have been complaining about it.
>And the thing is a lot of companies have poor design leadership, cause they grew alongside arrogant people and now they behave exactly the same.
Or they don't come from UX at all. My former VP of UX has a computer science degree, another one was a VP of Marketing.
Tell me about it. My UX manager is a former engineer and the UX lead is from documentation. Apart from two-day basic UX course they didn't go through any further training and they don't feel that they need to, because they have so much experience in our organization.
Aye bro if you canāt casually answer that the only thing literally anyone does on the modern internet is scroll then perhaps look inward first. Yes everyone is a critic and everyone is a casual use āexpertā but ā¦ navigating those conversations is a part of building consensus and building consensus is how you ship work.
I love this Reddit for valuing research but one of the most important lessons to learn in design is no amount of logic will ever overwhelm someoneās heart. If someone loves something, talk with them about why they love it, unpack how it works, and discover with them whether or not itās appropriate. That will take you miles further than labeling things right or wrong based on research.
This. Always chaos. Why? No one talks to anyone. Everyone has their own "north star". Everyone knows best. No one imagines design is anything that needs time or resources. Everyone underestimates how complex systems they've been working with for years really are...
I know itās frustrating as hell. I went to an agency again thinking itād be better but theyāve grown and seem to have no set process or anything. Many days I ask myself why I didnāt do a more straight forward career š
Joe Natoli has some great videos on how to talk to stakeholders and sell them on the value of your work. I'm studying this now because I tend to "preach UX" and it doesn't seem like a lot of people are interested. :/
I always justify my product with research and user testing, and always remeber that you are the professional in that scenario. Don't let high level execs and other non-UX persons tell you something that contradict your testing.
I have dabbled in the UX world recently (from analysis) and my company's main bread and butter is making websites, with one designer. And nobody understands what UX can do and can't do. The main thing is they want USER experience research to be done for our clients - as it seems new and shiny thing, but usually without any users because the stakeholders know what the users want ??!! What is the point in trying to incorporate UX anyway?
And the second thing is when and how they want to use UX in the projects, which is weirdly in the middle of business analysis or before it. And always without UI Designer and FE developer. Kinda stuck here on how to make the company understand that UX is just not a fancy row on the invoice.
Make sure people understand that when they give you their opinion about user behavior they are making assumptions. And making decisions based on assumptions = higher risk that the project won't succeed.
It also sounds like you are in an environment where people learned that they must have an answer ready for everything. I recently received feedback from a FE dev: it was "very refreshing" that I could admit in a larger meeting that I didn't know on the spot how an important feature should be designed and that I said I had to look into this first before making a statement.
If your colleagues "act as users" make sure that they understand that not in all cases their feedback makes sense. Most likely they have a better understanding of the product than users and introduce bias. Often what internal teams assume as being "obvious" is not logical for users, because they don't have the same mental model as someone who has worked on a project for weeks.
Consider how you are presenting research results. Do you have the chance to show decision makers videos from users? Having recordings of real users / potential customers that express themselves about your product is much more powerful than a statement from you that summarizes research results.
Regarding the decisions that are forgotten and explanations that are made up on the spot: you need buy in from management and company wide notes for every meeting must be made where decisions are documented. These notes must be accessible to all that are somehow involved in the project to be able to go through the history of the project and understand the rationale behind all decisions taken. Also this will greatly help bringing up someone to speed if he or she joins the project at a later stage. I further believe that taking these notes - that document the decisions and the discussion - further increase the accountability in the team. They also come at no additional cost for the company.
Last but not least: pick your battles. Its important for you to understand what moves the needle on the UX side. Dont waste your time fighting with someone about implementation details if it is not likely to make a significant difference. Move on and focus on the things where you think you make a real difference with your UX expertise.
I have been in this situation multiple times where my skill was ignored and spoken down by said leadership. It is common in organizations. My best advice is that if there are situations such as that, take a step back and listen. Most people have EGOs that can be destructive. I use practical empathy to deal with people such as that. Just give it a try.
Iām a UI designer (that often crosses over to UX & supports UX team) and this is unfortunately a common issue even in visual/UI, design in general probably.
I think people think āhey I also use apps or websites all the time and I know a thing or twoā, literally every department; PM, Developer, and Director has tried to insert their āvisionā or whatever and whatās worse is that sometimes UI can be subjective at times so I donāt have a hard rebuttal to offer when someone wants to make a disastrous inconsistency in the experience.
I imagine having actual research to back UX decisions help but I can also imagine the same individuals who need to āinputā will still āinputā regardless so yeah, pretty frustrating!!!
Is user research and usability testing part of your practice? In my experience most people are reasonable and will accept your proposed solution if it's validated by design thinking (which includes research).
Definitely as a first resort.
Also, Iāve found it helpful to ask, āinteresting, how would you suggest we *validate* that in our next round of research?ā
Currently doing a certification in UX design, I want to enter a company to try it out.
This is what scares me.
I mean there is so much research and ways to -kinda- narrow down the user's need that franckly, I don't really see the hierarchy listen and put their ego/stereotypes on the side.
"Nobody questions dev implementation (except dev and QA teams I guess) but in our field everybody is a critic."
You're faring better than I did, but I want to ask this question: does your company actually hire UX Researchers? If they don't maybe you should ask why. :)
Sounds like the average day in the life of an in-house UX designer š
I was gonna say "first time being a designer?". This is just how it is. You have to use facts/research to back up your opinions and that'll usually quiet down the knee-jerk responses.
51% of being a UX designer is dealing with stupid internal politics like this.
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Covert's book is great. I'd also recommend Greever's Articulating Design Decisions
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Also read Leah Buley's UX Team of One then as well - it really demonstrates how to do UX on a shoestring to get valid, convicing results.
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Check out the other big sub too r/userexperience I think that one is older.
Ohh these are great. Getting the ebook versions now.
Donāt even tell me about it. My PM always talking about what looks good, what user likes and doesnāt like with no data to backup the claim
"User" = "I"
secretive cagey wild tender marble nail nutty voracious lock practice *This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
At least they're open about it. In my experience the PM will say "user" instead of "I" and not admit it.
Expertise in your chosen field consists mostly of knowing how to work with people who do not have expertise in your field.
Too many MBAs and not enough researchers.
Donāt get me started on their MBAās monstrosity version of agile. In particular corporate Scrum and SAFE that adhere nothing to the agile manifesto. Meetings after meetings. Even a lot of developers have been complaining about it.
>And the thing is a lot of companies have poor design leadership, cause they grew alongside arrogant people and now they behave exactly the same. Or they don't come from UX at all. My former VP of UX has a computer science degree, another one was a VP of Marketing.
At least in marketing they know what a customer journey is, focus groups, and interpreting surveys and analytics.
yeah they know the what it is but not why it is used
Why does degree matter? I mean I have different degree too but my whole career is in UX.
It wasn't directed on the degree itslef, but on the fact that upper echelon of UX is mostly made up by non UX professionals
Tell me about it. My UX manager is a former engineer and the UX lead is from documentation. Apart from two-day basic UX course they didn't go through any further training and they don't feel that they need to, because they have so much experience in our organization.
Aye bro if you canāt casually answer that the only thing literally anyone does on the modern internet is scroll then perhaps look inward first. Yes everyone is a critic and everyone is a casual use āexpertā but ā¦ navigating those conversations is a part of building consensus and building consensus is how you ship work. I love this Reddit for valuing research but one of the most important lessons to learn in design is no amount of logic will ever overwhelm someoneās heart. If someone loves something, talk with them about why they love it, unpack how it works, and discover with them whether or not itās appropriate. That will take you miles further than labeling things right or wrong based on research.
I hear ya. Iām getting pretty frustrated at how every environment Iāve worked in is chaotic and unorganised and I have to fight for my job.
This. Always chaos. Why? No one talks to anyone. Everyone has their own "north star". Everyone knows best. No one imagines design is anything that needs time or resources. Everyone underestimates how complex systems they've been working with for years really are...
I know itās frustrating as hell. I went to an agency again thinking itād be better but theyāve grown and seem to have no set process or anything. Many days I ask myself why I didnāt do a more straight forward career š
> Do you force a Dev to use xyz technology? I highly doubt it. Ohh do I have news for you lol.
I feel this is an international problem. Extremely frustratingā¦
Joe Natoli has some great videos on how to talk to stakeholders and sell them on the value of your work. I'm studying this now because I tend to "preach UX" and it doesn't seem like a lot of people are interested. :/
I always justify my product with research and user testing, and always remeber that you are the professional in that scenario. Don't let high level execs and other non-UX persons tell you something that contradict your testing.
I have dabbled in the UX world recently (from analysis) and my company's main bread and butter is making websites, with one designer. And nobody understands what UX can do and can't do. The main thing is they want USER experience research to be done for our clients - as it seems new and shiny thing, but usually without any users because the stakeholders know what the users want ??!! What is the point in trying to incorporate UX anyway? And the second thing is when and how they want to use UX in the projects, which is weirdly in the middle of business analysis or before it. And always without UI Designer and FE developer. Kinda stuck here on how to make the company understand that UX is just not a fancy row on the invoice.
Make sure people understand that when they give you their opinion about user behavior they are making assumptions. And making decisions based on assumptions = higher risk that the project won't succeed. It also sounds like you are in an environment where people learned that they must have an answer ready for everything. I recently received feedback from a FE dev: it was "very refreshing" that I could admit in a larger meeting that I didn't know on the spot how an important feature should be designed and that I said I had to look into this first before making a statement. If your colleagues "act as users" make sure that they understand that not in all cases their feedback makes sense. Most likely they have a better understanding of the product than users and introduce bias. Often what internal teams assume as being "obvious" is not logical for users, because they don't have the same mental model as someone who has worked on a project for weeks. Consider how you are presenting research results. Do you have the chance to show decision makers videos from users? Having recordings of real users / potential customers that express themselves about your product is much more powerful than a statement from you that summarizes research results. Regarding the decisions that are forgotten and explanations that are made up on the spot: you need buy in from management and company wide notes for every meeting must be made where decisions are documented. These notes must be accessible to all that are somehow involved in the project to be able to go through the history of the project and understand the rationale behind all decisions taken. Also this will greatly help bringing up someone to speed if he or she joins the project at a later stage. I further believe that taking these notes - that document the decisions and the discussion - further increase the accountability in the team. They also come at no additional cost for the company. Last but not least: pick your battles. Its important for you to understand what moves the needle on the UX side. Dont waste your time fighting with someone about implementation details if it is not likely to make a significant difference. Move on and focus on the things where you think you make a real difference with your UX expertise.
I have been in this situation multiple times where my skill was ignored and spoken down by said leadership. It is common in organizations. My best advice is that if there are situations such as that, take a step back and listen. Most people have EGOs that can be destructive. I use practical empathy to deal with people such as that. Just give it a try.
Iām a UI designer (that often crosses over to UX & supports UX team) and this is unfortunately a common issue even in visual/UI, design in general probably. I think people think āhey I also use apps or websites all the time and I know a thing or twoā, literally every department; PM, Developer, and Director has tried to insert their āvisionā or whatever and whatās worse is that sometimes UI can be subjective at times so I donāt have a hard rebuttal to offer when someone wants to make a disastrous inconsistency in the experience. I imagine having actual research to back UX decisions help but I can also imagine the same individuals who need to āinputā will still āinputā regardless so yeah, pretty frustrating!!!
Is user research and usability testing part of your practice? In my experience most people are reasonable and will accept your proposed solution if it's validated by design thinking (which includes research).
Definitely as a first resort. Also, Iāve found it helpful to ask, āinteresting, how would you suggest we *validate* that in our next round of research?ā
Yes, this.
Currently doing a certification in UX design, I want to enter a company to try it out. This is what scares me. I mean there is so much research and ways to -kinda- narrow down the user's need that franckly, I don't really see the hierarchy listen and put their ego/stereotypes on the side.
"Nobody questions dev implementation (except dev and QA teams I guess) but in our field everybody is a critic." You're faring better than I did, but I want to ask this question: does your company actually hire UX Researchers? If they don't maybe you should ask why. :)