Sometimes I think we sold the ‘User’ part of UCD too hard!

I’ve done UX and managed UX at several companies. In a couple of large companies, we conducted surveys that asked designers (among other things) their preferred organizational structure, their preferred roles and responsibilities, and their current level of professional happiness.

Many respondents said they were unhappy. The reasons they gave were (if I may paraphrase):

(1) I have no seat at the table during strategic discussions.

(2) The product team wants me to leave the centralized group and report to a product manager.

(3) There is no career path for a designer here.

The happiest designers usually reported into a product team, perhaps through a design manager. They rarely reported into a centralized UX organization. Decentralized designers were usually happiest because:

(a) Most product teams considered the centralized design group to be an “internal agency” (the “service” that you referenced). They regarded centralized designers as outsiders whose first loyalty was to the centralized design group, not the product team.

(b) Most product teams that had designers reporting to them regarded their designers as loyal “insiders”. They usually gave them that coveted “seat at the table” as well as career growth opportunities–opportunities not just within the UX field, but also in product management and project management, often in leadership roles. (These were the “well-rounded teams” you discussed.)

It is important not to apply these findings to other large, established companies without conducting surveys and closely examining cultural factors like team dynamics and historical events. For example, in an engineering-driven company company, a decentralized designer might get a seat at the table but not a carer growth opportunity into the driving function.

I do sympathize with UX professionals in companies that “don’t get design”. The tales of woe that you cite are too familiar. But I wonder if some unhappy designers are getting what they think they need to be happy (in the above example, a unified, centralized, collocated design organization) and are consequently not getting what would actually make them happy (in the example, to be treated like a full-fledged member of the product team).

My professional “happiness” stems from knowing that a creative problem has been solved. Design is all about problem solving.

The reason designers want to come into a project early as a strategic voice is to make sure the problem they are being handed is the right one.

Using statistics (Omniture) to measure both business and design goals, in turn supports a stronger business confidence, rapid deployments, and our own design instincts.

I’m happy to be a part of a UX team that has allowed us to create, measure, fix, and improve the site we created.

The people you have been talking to are going to be the instruments of change. They will likely help create
organizations that are different from any of those you have described. They are agents of change. The practice of
their craft for over a decade has created in them a potential to be able to contribute at a higher level. The exercise of
creating a structure that will actually allow them to contribute in this manner has been left as an exercise for them.

In addition to moving up the management track, and becoming (and being perceived as owners ) for “more than the UI”..
they also need to be agents of organizational change.

This will be an exciting space to watch in the next few years.

Thank you for posting, and for giving us a place to have a deeper conversation about this.

For most people I’ve talked to, professional dissatisfaction seems to come from days spent in petty skirmishes, having one’s contributions ignored or outright rejected. One quote from an interview subject I’ve always remembered: “my job can’t be trying to convince you that I should get to do my job.”

To Scott’s point, I think the issue of specialization vs management track cuts both ways. Some people want to move up in the company, and face the same (well-documented) challenges anyone faces in moving from being a contributor to a manager. For many, though, I think they’d be happy as a contributor but only if they’re getting the right “air cover” from management. I’ve talked to many people who were brought in to play a UX role in the absence of any other changes to process or culture, and that’s a hard row to hoe without external support.

Elaine, I’m also excited to see your comments on UX hybrids, as I’ve been observing changes in the way that people’s skills break down across roles, and am curious to see how that changes the process and culture within teams.