Designing the Obvious: A Common Sense Approach to Web and Mobile Application Design, Second Edition

Chapter 2. Lead with Why, Follow with What

• Know Your Motivation

• Make Authentic Decisions

Recently, I sat down at a table of friends at a bar, and the one person I hadn’t yet met asked, “What’s your passion?”

It was a nice question. It’s certainly easier to explain than my job title. “User experience strategist” just doesn’t have the same ring of familiarity for people that, say, “firefighter” does.

“My passion,” I responded, with far more eloquence than at my dinner party years ago, “is helping people empower themselves through technology by improving the quality of their experiences with it, whether on the web, on a mobile device, or in some other way.”

I liked the question because she didn’t ask what I did, but why. It cut straight to ...