5 ms·

If most UX designers took the time to listen and understand people's needs, then this wouldn't be such an issue. But in my experience, there is a culture of hub

If most UX designers took the time to listen and understand people's needs, then this wouldn't be such an issue. But in my experience, there is a culture of hubris in the UX community. I doubt most UX designers have ever even used a curses based interface. They are just disgusted by seeing so much monospace text, and are compelled to tear it down and replace it with something they are comfortable with (And usually the only thing they know how to use). I had to clean up after some UX monkeys a few years ago, who "upgraded" a warehouse inventory system. The warehouse used 30 year old embedded MSDOS based portable Symbol terminals and a SCO UNIX server in the back end. They also used Wyse terminals in the office for the admin interface and data entry. Everything booted in seconds, and the portable terminal/scanners lasted for days, and never had a problem. They decided to replace it with React Native on Android touch screen terminals (this was a refrigerated food warehouse). The hardware couldn't go even a whole day, and the touchscreens were not at all appropriate. The software was slow and unreliable, and had led to costly mistakes. Speaking to the designer, he seemed far more concerned about how it looked than about adding back essential features. He kept joking about how backward things had been, and how heroic he was for helping these simpletons see the light. His only justification for several things was that it was "trending" and he didn't want his client to be "left behind". They also started by gutting essential features, and adding them back on a rolling basis, when they got around to it. In my opinion, a big part of the problem is the culture of UX. It seems to have amplified the stereotypical arrogance that people sometimes associate with IT people, and combined it with smug fashionistas.

jdhn 8y ago
Sorry that you worked with a bad UX designer. Do you know if they did any sort of user research at all, or did they jump straight to making it look pretty?
- apostacy 8y ago
  That's the thing, this is what it is almost always like. Anyone who calls themselves a UX designer and is under 25 has just been insufferable. And they just assume that older technology must be inferior, because it is old. They use obsolete as a synonym for old. In the span of a year, I had UX consultants tell me that password masking is obsolete, and that there should be one field for passwords, no wait, two fields but masked again. Decisions are not really based on logic, they are based on fashion trends, and intense fear of not being hip. Maybe in some way this makes sense in the modern app ecosystem, that is possible. But is should be relegated to crummy Listicle apps. But these types of people should be kept well away from any software that does anything important. As for the warehouse I mentioned, Android and React Native are not the right technologies. But maybe this firm didn't want to tell the client that they should go somewhere else.
  - notduncansmith 8y ago
    > and is under 25 has just been insufferable. I think this is a key point. Beyond the fact that their brain is still developing[1], most people under 25 (or with only 1-3 years in tech) simply don't have the breadth and depth of experience necessary to build an appreciation for reliability, much less the ability to identify reliable components or design reliable solutions for various environments. [1] https://mentalhealthdaily.com/2015/02/18/at-what-age-is-the-brain-fully-developed/ https://mentalhealthdaily.com/2015/02/18/at-what-age-is-the-...
    - apostacy 8y ago
      Of course. I think the problem though is the culture surrounding UX that empowers unqualified people to make messes.
      - sokoloff 8y ago
        To be fair, this culture is by no means unique to UX. I've seen unqualified people make messes in many different tech disciplines: coding, operations, project management...
        apostacy 8y ago
        Yes, but I think that UX is a particularly toxic vector for unqualified people. UX people are often good at dazzling upper management. What they do is vague enough that it can be hard to nail down a failure condition. Everyone wants the newest and best. I've seen CEOs give the reigns of their app to some UX person, because they want to impress the hip young UX expert, and they know just enough tech to appear to a wizard.
        jdhn 8y ago
        Man, it sounds like you've had bad experiences with UX people. I guess that's what happens when UX is the new craze, and everybody and their mom wants to jump into it.
mixmastamyk 8y ago
With hindsight, a "UX designer" is probably not the best choice to lead a project building a warehouse inventory system.
james_s_tayler 8y ago
I probably say this on a weekly basis but... Software is art, fashion and politics.

jdhn 8y ago

Sorry that you worked with a bad UX designer. Do you know if they did any sort of user research at all, or did they jump straight to making it look pretty?

apostacy 8y ago
That's the thing, this is what it is almost always like. Anyone who calls themselves a UX designer and is under 25 has just been insufferable. And they just assume that older technology must be inferior, because it is old. They use obsolete as a synonym for old. In the span of a year, I had UX consultants tell me that password masking is obsolete, and that there should be one field for passwords, no wait, two fields but masked again. Decisions are not really based on logic, they are based on fashion trends, and intense fear of not being hip. Maybe in some way this makes sense in the modern app ecosystem, that is possible. But is should be relegated to crummy Listicle apps. But these types of people should be kept well away from any software that does anything important. As for the warehouse I mentioned, Android and React Native are not the right technologies. But maybe this firm didn't want to tell the client that they should go somewhere else.
- notduncansmith 8y ago
  > and is under 25 has just been insufferable. I think this is a key point. Beyond the fact that their brain is still developing[1], most people under 25 (or with only 1-3 years in tech) simply don't have the breadth and depth of experience necessary to build an appreciation for reliability, much less the ability to identify reliable components or design reliable solutions for various environments. [1] https://mentalhealthdaily.com/2015/02/18/at-what-age-is-the-brain-fully-developed/ https://mentalhealthdaily.com/2015/02/18/at-what-age-is-the-...
  - apostacy 8y ago
    Of course. I think the problem though is the culture surrounding UX that empowers unqualified people to make messes.
    - sokoloff 8y ago
      To be fair, this culture is by no means unique to UX. I've seen unqualified people make messes in many different tech disciplines: coding, operations, project management...
      - apostacy 8y ago
        Yes, but I think that UX is a particularly toxic vector for unqualified people. UX people are often good at dazzling upper management. What they do is vague enough that it can be hard to nail down a failure condition. Everyone wants the newest and best. I've seen CEOs give the reigns of their app to some UX person, because they want to impress the hip young UX expert, and they know just enough tech to appear to a wizard.
        jdhn 8y ago
        Man, it sounds like you've had bad experiences with UX people. I guess that's what happens when UX is the new craze, and everybody and their mom wants to jump into it.

mixmastamyk 8y ago

With hindsight, a "UX designer" is probably not the best choice to lead a project building a warehouse inventory system.

james_s_tayler 8y ago

I probably say this on a weekly basis but... Software is art, fashion and politics.