> Ironically, one can also speak of UX-isation of design. I would define it as misguided thinking that the designer knows my problems better than myself.
It's not that the UX guy knows it better than yourself, but he strives to be able understand it and then to state it more clearly, in an actionable manner. I don't know the call-center operator problems better than he does, but I was able to identify the pain-points and improvements more clearly. While the user will know the problem way better than I do, I can't expect him to systematize and conceive solutions, as well as ways of measuring them.
That's actually what most UX methods tend to to, nowadays. Instead of asking the users, the UX guy will observe (e.g. do job-shadowing).
Ok, I think we all agree that UX design when done properly leads to a better product ;) Maybe the problem is that the field as a whole became more mainstream in the recent years and thus more susceptible to Sturgeon's law. Hence the negative experiences that I am talking about.
I agree. I don't wish to sound overly unkind to an entire discipline here, but I think in recent years there has arisen a perception that UX is a job which pays well and doesn't require any particularly hard skills: software development involves programming which is plainly quite challenging (and maybe requires being good at maths), design is very subjective, brutal (client feedback can be soul-crushing) and often laborious, but UX is this nice fuzzy domain that anyone with an interest in the web and apps can launch themselves into without much prior training or experience.
At least, I've spoken to a few people who feel like that. And I've worked with quite a number of UX people who didn't really seem to have any skills I could easily discern as being useful (but definitely could produce reams of wireframes that made absolutely no sense whatsoever - I remember one hapless UXer who made 10 pages of wireframes describing how he wanted a file upload dialog to work before a developer gently informed him that said dialog was entirely governed by the OS and we would have no control over it).
There's an independent certification being rolled out in London right now. Free udemy course and links to more info here: https://www.udemy.com/certificate-in-ux/
It's not that the UX guy knows it better than yourself, but he strives to be able understand it and then to state it more clearly, in an actionable manner. I don't know the call-center operator problems better than he does, but I was able to identify the pain-points and improvements more clearly. While the user will know the problem way better than I do, I can't expect him to systematize and conceive solutions, as well as ways of measuring them.
That's actually what most UX methods tend to to, nowadays. Instead of asking the users, the UX guy will observe (e.g. do job-shadowing).