I was talking to someone on Blue Sky yesterday and they are tired of trying to fix design maturity in their organisation:
Zelbinian raises a good point here. As designers we are tired. Design as an industry is changing and with it. Its perception on the part of many executives as being a “nice to have”. Design Maturity, and the availability of design roles, are at what feels like an all time low.
Another UX designer posted that, lately, companies are trying to “make” users do things instead of helping users do what they want to do. This causes dark patterns to form (hat tip to: Edward Zitron):
The business of making our s**t worse to increase revenue growth year-over-year is booming. The products you use every day are more confusing and frustrating to use because everything must grow, which means that product decisions are now driven, in many cases, by companies trying to make you do something rather than do something for you, which in turn means that basic product quality — things like “usability” or “functionality” — are secondary considerations.
Design fatigue contributors
Designers fight an uphill battle to drive collaboration in a company, especially one that does not believe in it wholeheartedly. This battle happens in the tension between design and its perceived value. Technical hype cycles (Blockchain, AI) can blind a company into chasing the tech instead of understanding their users better and giving them what they want.
What else contributes?
Cost-cutting measures
Built-up economic pressures have led some companies, even the biggest ones, to reduce and redirect their investment in design teams and resources. Recently Facebook has been letting go of their best performers, presumably to increase their bottom line. Publicly traded companies tend to shift staff the most in the pursuit of a bottom line target.
These measures put stress on those who have to move on, and also those who remain who typically end up having to work harder to keep their coveted slot in the organisation.
Perceived lack of ROI
UX results are notoriously difficult to quantify, and, design often has a low “business maturity” perception. UX is a preventative activity and so it’s very difficult to attach a profit value. However, your users know when things are going well, and they are quick to tell you when things aren’t good. So most data we get is fairly negative/constructive but not profitable.
Integration challenges
Design Thinking requires a certain amount of integration into the development process in order to work. This feedback loop doesn’t work naturally in some companies so in order for it to stick it has to be a part of the UX process, and also understood and supported by the executive team. If an exec team decides DT is not valuable, then it will not happen.
This is difficult for us designers to accept since we know, intrinsically, that DT saves time. Would you rather design it or build it twice?!
How to recharge?
It’s important to recharge your batteries by stepping away. I require distance from a project in order to dive back into it inspired and ready to be inspired to innovate. Designers can get stuck on a problem (it’s our job!) and we have to find ways to take a step back, take a break and think about something else. Then our brains can relax. Ideas and inspiration start to flow.
Also look at ways to “manage up”. Does your manager believe in Design Thinking? If not, start with them. Run workshops and invite them to participate. When managers see their team working together and creating action items out of those meetings – that productivity and productivity = success.
Keep going with your DT process
I’ve been in situations where I was the only one doing Design Thinking, and that’s ok. You can’t change everyone’s way of working. The best thing you can do is believe in your process and prove it with your efforts; the proof is in the pudding. When your coworkers see you running workshops, they tend to start assuming that’s the way your meetings will be run and they will miss DT when it’s not there.