I usually like Aaron’s thoughts, especially on economic stuff, but he’s off here. UX (user experience) isn’t testing, though it involves that (and, by the way, application testing is a dedicated position). The biggest task for UX designers is logically organizing information, the user action path, and general interface, particularly on large-scale applications and websites. It seems kind of fluffy, but you don’t notice it unless you go to a website that is poorly designed and confusing. The UX industry is probably puffed up, for sure, but it still needs to be done. Leaving the product testing to consumers is an odd idea, anyways. No consumer product in the world has ever been released without some form of testing.
Application owners and developers, “do UX” by the nature of their profession. UX as a dedicated, even if temporary, position comes about when the application becomes too large to be effectively handled by someone with other things on their plate. Product owners need to manage their product on the business end, and developers need to…develop (!) the application code.
I don’t know a lot, but my job as a front-end application developer is literally how I put food on the table for my family. I “do UX” as a matter of course throughout my day, although large-scale UX for the applications I work on are handled by dedicated UX guys—and believe me, these people are needed. This is my mileage, and YMMV, but it seems Clarey is presenting reasons for the wrong dilemma.
2 Comments
I agree. UX is not testing. It is exactly what it means – user experience.
I also agree that the phrase “doing UX” is mis-used. You should create a good user experience. That shouldn’t be called “doing UX”.
I’m wondering what Clarey read that made him think it was just testing. I don’t think he mentioned in the video.