“If you don’t have people that care about usability on your project, your project is doomed.”

— Jeff Atwood

Occasionally you’ll encounter people that question the value of user experience design. My advice is: don’t try to convince them. And don’t be goaded into an ROI (return of investment) discussion of UX with „non-believers“.

Make the case for user experience design and for its contribution once, maybe twice, as people may be unfamiliar with it. But don’t you don’t want a repearing “why this is actually needed?” discussion.

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Nowadays it’s easy to learn the lingo and the approach of user experience design. It just takes an (online) course or two, and a few books. This teaches you the basics – so you are told. Unfortunately, it will not turn you into a UX designer.

UX design is a craft. And a craft needs practice and real-life practical experience. Without practice, you are just playing UX design. There is no substitute for hands-on, practical experience.

Made-up projects demonstrate that you know the steps of the UX design process. And that you can apply design methods. They show your method and process knowledge. They show that you know the basics and that you know the moves. But they cannot replace practical experiences. 

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My last task at Deutsche Telekom Design was to create and set up its Design Thinking program. The goal was (to negotiate and) to establish a company-wide Design Thinking practice.

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