UX for Business

Working with Yourself

We Are Human

The humanity of our users, customers, stakeholders, and colleagues is a quiet theme through everything in UX, business, and this book. Really, when you think about it, all of those things are much more about how products work for humans than anything else. Imagine how easy this would all be if people were all the same, every time!

As humans, we all make mistakes. Including you and including me! But all mistakes are not created equal either. There are different flavors of “mistakes,” and it is really helpful to learn to recognize the differences.

Sometimes we might do the wrong thing, not because it is incorrect or doesn’t work, but because it moves the product or the company in the wrong direction. A feature that users like when you ask them might also cause them to leave our product or cost the business more without adding any value. It’s not “wrong”...it’s just not right.

Sometimes we might often give ourselves rules that nobody wants or needs, but since we think that is a rule, we will ignore certain solutions that would be smarter. For example, if you have spent too much time listening to design influencers and you think buttons must look a certain way all the time, you might miss an opportunity to make a weird button that isn’t as trendy but will be seen by more users and convert better (as in, special buttons). Nobody gave you that rule, and it’s not a requirement or constraint of the project, but you still followed that rule and did ...