How can we communicate that UX work can't be done by just anyone?

Question

About 2 years ago, I asked about a good usability/UX elevator pitch, so I can quickly explain what UX is whenever I need.

But, to this date, I still can't get over one little issue: lots of people I've met still think that UX work can be done by any experienced web user (or by a web designer), and that whatever I say is subjective. On the other hand, developers for example tend to not get this treatment because people assume that they're the experts, and that they must know what they're talking about, whatever it is they say.

This is especially true when I'm trying to advise a team or an individual in a setting where I have no time to back-up what I say with data.

So, from your experience, how do you get this idea over to others?

Answer 1

The basics of UX work can be done by almost anyone willing to spend some time and effort learning how. Steve Krug's "Rocket Surgery Made Easy" shows that well. However that doesn't mean that everyone is a UX expert.

Think of UX like painting a picture. Anyone can paint, and almost everyone can paint something decent with a little time and effort put into learning how to paint. Much fewer people however will ever be able to paint a masterpiece though.

Encouraging as many people as possible to spend some time and effort learning to understand the basics of UX will make the world a much better place.

Answer 2

Steve Krug's "Rocket Surgery Made Easy" describes a simple, inexpensive, quick process for doing qualitative usability tests. Conduct one round of tests, record them using a microphone and some screen recording software, and show the recordings (or even just clips of the recordings) to your team. You will have all the hard evidence you need about whether your interface is good enough.

Answer 3

Two suggestions.

The first is to point out the complexity - traditional design for print or web is limited to two dimensions. Design for the "real world" is limited to 3 dimensions. User interaction design is inherently 4 dimensional - taking into account the passage of time as well.

The second is to agree (with your colleagues) that anyone can do UX design in just the same way that anyone can write code. I'm pretty sure I could teach anyone the basics of programming in just a few hours - but does that equip them to maintain the 750kloc codebase for a multitier application that's business critical? By no means.

Answer 4

Using positive examples of spectacularly good design can help. Everybody knows that the iPhone succeeded mainly because of amazing UX, and not any particular set of features. Even lay people will get this.

The problem with UX is the X. Experience is a subjective thing, and it's hard to argue in front of people that their personal experience and impressions are not indicative of what end-users will experience and feel. PHBs have taste, too. It might be poor taste, but that's something that's a lot harder to argue against than, say, generally accepted software development wisdom.