Lean UX, 3rd Edition

Chapter 19. A Last Word

After the first edition of Lean UX was released, we were pleased to start getting feedback from readers. After all, Lean UX is all about listening to your users—so we wanted to understand what the “users” of the book had to say. Readers had lots to say (thank you!), but one theme emerged from all the others and has stayed persistent over the years. This theme has to do with the need to grow organizations and processes that can really embrace this way of working.

We know that working with Lean UX requires changes. What we didn’t understand clearly until we heard from readers is that the changes fall into two categories: changes readers could make for themselves, and changes that required leaders to get involved—leaders who might not want to change, for whatever reasons.

Our readers told us: Look, we can make certain kinds of changes ourselves, but for other changes, we need to rely on shifting our leader’s attitudes. We need to change things beyond ourselves—we need to change the way our organization itself works.

Now, changing an organization, even a small one, is a big challenge. It’s a challenge that most designers and product people have little training or experience trying to enact. Even people seasoned in the field of organizational development know that changing organizations is hard. So it can feel overwhelming. And that’s what we heard from our readers. They wanted to know how to change, and they didn’t know where to start. They wanted help.

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