Rosenverse
The Trials and Tribulations of Directors of UX

Log in or create a free Rosenverse account to watch this video.

Log in Create free account

100s of community videos are available to free members. Conference talks are generally available to Gold members.

The Trials and Tribulations of Directors of UX

Thursday, July 13, 2023 • Enterprise Community
Share the love for this talk
The Trials and Tribulations of Directors of UX
Speakers: Peter Merholz
Link:

Summary

Directors of UX are navigating an overwhelming set of explicit and implicit expectations in their work, leading to frustration, anxiety, burnout, and leaving the field altogether. In this freewheeling discussion with guest Peter Merholz, organizational consultant and leadership mentor, we’ll address how we got into this situation (layoffs requiring those who remain to manage more people; botched agile transformations requiring UXers to lean into product management; immature organizations not knowing how to value the work), and identify paths forward out of this mess.

Key Insights

  • UX directors are often overloaded, having to manage both direct teams and cross-functional relationships due to organizational downsizing.

  • Many design executives are ill-prepared for their roles, leaving directors unprotected from organizational chaos.

  • Modern product managers often lack critical product development process skills, forcing UX directors to fill that gap.

  • Leadership work is inherently undefined; doing tasks outside job descriptions often signals true leadership.

  • UX professionals consistently report lower job satisfaction than other roles because expectations about the 'real work' of UX are poorly set.

  • Trust building with cross-functional partners relies on credibility, reliability, intimacy, and avoiding self-interest.

  • Understanding subject matter expertise beyond design craft is essential for UX leaders to gain influence.

  • Playing office politics is necessary for advancing a UX agenda, and influence must be exercised ethically.

  • Organizational and design maturity vary widely; UX leaders must meet organizations where they are to drive progress.

  • Demonstrating the impact of UX requires connecting behavioral design outcomes to business value metrics, which many organizations struggle to do.

Notable Quotes

"UX directors often feel like this poor person in the middle getting pulled in all these directions."

"If executives are responsible for the why and managers are responsible for the what, then directors are responsible for the how."

"Many product managers got the job because they knew the business, but they don’t know how to manage product development effectively."

"If you find yourself doing a lot of things that aren’t in your job description, that might mean you’re doing leadership."

"UXers are less satisfied because we have failed to set proper expectations about what the real work of UX is."

"You build trust by showing you understand what it takes to get something shipped and by knowing the subject matter."

"Playing politics is necessary in UX leadership to advance your agenda ethically."

"You need to meet your leaders where they are on their maturity curve to be effective."

"Design impact doesn’t exist separate from the work with others – it’s part of the initiative's success."

"We freak out when leadership acts irrationally, but we accept that users do the same because we understand them better."

Ask the Rosenbot
Sheryl Cababa
Day 2 Panel
2024 • Designing with AI 2024
Gold
Jay Bustamante
Navigating the Ethical Frontier: DesignOps Strategies for Responsible AI Innovation
2023 • DesignOps Summit 2023
Gold
Deanna Smith
Leading Change with Confidence: Strategies for Optimizing Your Process
2024 • DesignOps Summit 2024
Gold
Molly Fargotstein
Multipurpose Communication & UX Research Marketing
2019 • DesignOps Community
Susan Weinschenk
Evaluating the Maturity of UX in Your Organization
2020 • Enterprise Community
Joel Branch
Humanizing AI: Filling the Gaps with Multi-faceted Research
2021 • Advancing Research 2021
Gold
Sarah Coyle
Design and Analytics with Sarah Coyle
2020 • DesignOps Community
Juhan Sonin
Design Now! The Agenda for Action
2025 • Rosenfeld Community
Christian Madsbjerg
Influencing Strategy
2020 • Advancing Research 2020
Gold
Mark Templeton
Creating a Legacy: the ultimate experience
2017 • Enterprise Experience 2017
Gold
Miles Orkin
Creativity and Culture
2018 • DesignOps Summit 2018
Gold
Peter Van Dijck
Hands-on AI #1: Let’s write your first AI eval
2025 • Rosenfeld Community
Mackenzie Cockram
Integrating Qualitative and Quantitative Research from Discovery to Live
2022 • QuantQual Interest Group
Jemma Ahmed
Theme 2 Intro
2024 • Enterprise Experience 2020
Gold
Anna Avrekh
Diversity In and For Design: Building Conscious Diversity in Design and Research
2021 • Design at Scale 2021
Gold
Bria Alexander
Opening Remarks
2022 • Civic Design 2022
Gold

More Videos

Nick Cochran

"A design system helped us connect developers and designers together in community."

Nick Cochran

Growing in Enterprise Design through Making Connections

June 20, 2019

Amber Knabl

"Fable’s OZ adapts the System Usability Scale to better measure perceived usability for assistive technology users."

Amber Knabl

Empowering innovation: The critical role of inclusive product development in the AI era

June 4, 2024

Nora Tejeda

"We’ve learned that clear communication about roles and process is key to reduce confusion between regular design work and self-service."

Nora Tejeda Giovanna Alonso

Scaling Design Capabilities at BBVA Through a Self-service Design Model

June 10, 2021

Nathan Shedroff

"Design and business are different worlds with different concerns, languages, and issues about what they care about."

Nathan Shedroff

Redefining Value: Bridging the Innovation Culture Divide

May 14, 2015

Lona Moore

"We framed it as user-centered design because we needed to distinguish it from technical engineering design."

Lona Moore

Scaling Design Beyond Designers

June 11, 2021

Jemma Ahmed

"Difficult people change things by looking at the world not as it is, but as they hope it could and should be."

Jemma Ahmed

Theme 2 Intro

March 26, 2024

Sabrina Mach

"Design systems act as a single source of truth facilitating collaboration among design and technology."

Sabrina Mach Nina Wainwright

How to Design Your Design Operating Model

September 29, 2021

Kevin M. Hoffman

"There are two kinds of conflict: one is a zero-sum tug of war, and the other is creative tension that creates something unexpected."

Kevin M. Hoffman

Theme 2: Enterprise Team Journey

June 3, 2019

Bria Alexander

"Sponsor sessions may require registration by email to prevent Zoom bombings and protect session integrity."

Bria Alexander Louis Rosenfeld

Welcome

January 8, 2024