My slides from this year's UX Charlatans presentation at webinale 2018 in Berlin... The audience at #UXCharlatans @webinale was inspiring - some people identified the first charlatan straight after and someone even had further ideas for my suggestion to call #UX - #HX (Human Experience) - Thank YOU Guys! <3 The Description: User Experience (UX) is probably one of the fastest evolving and most exciting disciplines to be a part of these days. As the practical value of UX-work has become more and more obvious in the past few years, the demand for UX Designers and experts has grown exponentially. Unfortunately, there are hardly any official educational paths or certifications yet and the confusion around UX is very broad – UX is becoming a buzzword. As a result, the market is not only confused or has at best a very narrow understanding of the term, but this also offers a soil for many amateurs and fake representatives of the discipline to evolve. Over the past few years, I have had the (dis)pleasure to meet and work with some highly promoted UX Charlatans, so that over time I started spotting the patterns – some of their similarities and tactics. My aim is to share my observations in this presentation, in the hope to save you some time, money, and frustration – no matter if you are an evolving UX Designer or a Business/Project owner in need of UX expertise.

1. Diagnosis: UX Charlatans
@MartinaMitz
How to SpotThem Quickly and Stop Wasting
Time, Money and Nerves
6th June 2018

2. The Plan™
• Who the F*** Am I to Diagnose?
• Situation on the Market
• Diagnosis: UX Charlatans - 9 Symptoms
• What is UX Then?
• What to Look for
@MartinaMitz

3. …Me in the Past FewYears
@MartinaMitz
image: http://thebqb.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/frust3.jpeg

4. BUT WAIT
Let me tell you where I am coming from…
@MartinaMitz

5. Hobby
(1999) 2001:
Web Designer
(self taught and semi human-centered)
@MartinaMitz
confidence level:

6. Education
2001 - 2007:
Certified Psychologist
(Diplom Psychologe)
@MartinaMitz
confidence level:

7. Profession
2008 - 2009:
Clinical Psychologist
(not what I was taught)
@MartinaMitz
confidence level:

8. …Me at theTime
@MartinaMitz
image: https://nonverbalforte.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/Insecure-Photo.jpg
confidence level:

9. Time to Do Something!
@MartinaMitz
confidence level:
PSYCHOLOGY
(profession)
WEB DESIGN
(passion)
ME?
(crazy?)

10. Pro-passion Beginnings
2009 - 2010:
Conceptioner
(Marketing, Concept,
Design, Development)
@MartinaMitz
confidence level:

11. Pro-passion Reality
2010 - 2013:
Interaction Architect
(user-centered Design)
@MartinaMitz
confidence level:

12. Pro-passional X
since 2014:
Senior UX Architect
Senior UX Designer
Lead UX Designer
Lead Information Architect
Product Experience Lead
Head of UX
or simply:
UX Psychologist*
@MartinaMitz
confidence level:
Thanks for the inspiration Dr. Nick Fine!

13. MEANWHILE
… on the market
@MartinaMitz

14. @MartinaMitz
image: http://www.sparksgroupinc.com/resources/sparks-group-blog/
Huge Demand Buzzwordizing

15. Hardly Any Official
Educational Paths
Spreading of wrong understandings:
• UX is more expensive Web/Visual Design
• UX is only User Research
• UX is only digital
• UX is done once - it is a linear process + it has an end
• UX is like pixie dust, like magic
• UX Designers are unicorns
@MartinaMitz
image: https://www.vectorportal.com/StockVectors/People/MAGICIAN-VECTOR-GRAPHICS/12895.aspx

16. Lack of Skilled Workforce
@MartinaMitz
image: http://oaklandice.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/Clowns_648x365_2163947863-hero.jpg

17. Summary - Market Situation:
• UX has become very trendy
BUT actually in a misunderstood way
• There is a huge demand for skilled experts
BUT it is hard to know who the right one is
• UX is more and more involved
BUT usually at the wrong stage of the process
A PERFECT BREEDING GROUND FOR CHARLATANS
@MartinaMitz
image: http://granitegrok.com/wp-content/uploads/charlatan.png

18. Diagnosis: UX Charlatans
9 Symptoms
@MartinaMitz#UXCharlatans

19. WARNING!
You will find yourself in some of the symptoms,
this still does not qualify you! ;)
… it depends on:
severity of the symptom +
scale of the company/projects
@MartinaMitz

20. 1st Symptom
ONLY USERS ARE IMPORTANT
• Dismissing business/stakeholder needs, pains or questions
• Getting lost in User Research
• Not creating any valuable outcomes
“It’s all about the users…”
• The business (+ other stakeholders) are also your users
• We all won’t have a profession if it wasn’t for them and their needs/pains/ideas
@MartinaMitz
USERS
BUSINESS

21. 2nd Symptom
DO WHAT THE BUSINESS WANTS
• React only to the demands of the business or other stakeholders
• Do, do ,do - deliver, deliver, deliver - no critical thinking
• Care more about “networking” and their salary/title, than the product/service or users
“It’s all about the money…it’s just a job!”
• Being reactive, rather than proactive doesn’t help the business at all
• + empowers the manifestation of mistakes
@MartinaMitz
BUSINESS
USERS

22. 3rd Symptom
KNOW-IT-ALL
• Trust-me attitude + strong ego
• Know all the answers straight away
• Give solutions, rather than uncovering different solution-paths
“We have to do ‘Agile’, it’s what Google and Netflix are doing”
• No one alone can be in possession of the ultimate truth! → collaboration
• One can only strive to uncover it in an objective, informed, continuous way → iteration
@MartinaMitz
BUSINESS
USERS

23. 4th Symptom
SWEET TALK
• Say things that sound right
• Make strong and confident statements
• No substance – no practical coverage of their words, no reality-check
“I have over 15 years experience in the digital area...”
• If you want to change mindsets then you’ll need rational examples
• You’ll also need to talk about the bad/hard stuff and about fails
@MartinaMitz
“Hype vs. Change = Talking vs. Doing”, Rupert Platz
BUSINESS
USERS

24. 5th Symptom
MASK IT WITH JARGON
• Tend to hide behind jargon
• They use specific terms, sometimes not sufficiently understanding them
• They seem to feel more expert-y and it raises their ego, when no else understands them
“We definitely need Contextual Inquiries to get the User Profiles”
• If no one understands you, then no one will see your value either
• Better to explain, than to state “the only mystical way to the truth”
@MartinaMitz
BIZ
MVP

25. 6th Symptom
JUST RETURN THE BALL
• They are good at delegating and/or fishing for info and ideas
• They are better in adapting into the current situation, but aren’t visionary
• Can’t say “I don’t know”
“Remind me again what CTA was?”
• Asking further/deeper questions will make a Charlatan insecure.
• Count on your logic, not on buzzwords
@MartinaMitz
EGO
AUDACITY

26. UX IS ALL IN THE TOOLS
• Strong advocates of specific tools
• Usually, defensive against new stuff
• Only concentrating on tangible outputs, not on outcomes
“I use Axure and Photoshop, of course I am a UXD”
• One should be interested in and consider long-term strategies and solutions
• It’s useful to have a wider range of tools to chose from, but sometimes even a sketch does it
7th Symptom
@MartinaMitz
WIRE-
FRAMES
BUSINESS

27. 8th Symptom
UX IS JUST DIGITAL
• Also, only concentrating on tangible outputs, rather than solution paths
• Acting only on one channel/touch-point in isolation, rather than looking at an overall journey
“We are only responsible of the platform/website”
• The experience, is the front stage of the entire product/service – everything that the people
paying you interact with
• …and the user is an actual human, not a predictable robot or algorithm
@MartinaMitz
USABILITY

28. 9th Symptom
WORKING WITH/FOR UX DESIGNERS IS ENOUGH
@MartinaMitz

29. 9th Symptom - Best Example
WORKING WITH/FOR UX DESIGNERS IS ENOUGH?
@MartinaMitz

30. 9th Symptom - Best Example
WORKING WITH/FOR UX DESIGNERS ISN’T ENOUGH!
@MartinaMitz
#UXX

31. Summary: 9 Symptoms
If 3 or more of the following symptoms appear on more than 3 encounters,
you are most probably dealing with a UX-Charlatan:
1. ONLY USERS ARE IMPORTANT
2. DO WHAT BUSINESS WANTS
3. KNOW-IT-ALL
4. SWEET TALK
5. MASK IT WITH JARGON
6. JUST RETURN THE BALL
7. UX IS ALL IN THE TOOLS
8. UX IS JUST DIGITAL
9. WORKING WITH/FOR UX DESIGNERS IS ENOUGH
@MartinaMitz

32. BUT WHAT IS UX
THEN?
I will let the “father” of UX explain…
but first a UX Charlatan
@MartinaMitz

33. A Highly-Rated UX Charlatan:
@MartinaMitz
“User Experience
is obviously
what the user sees”

34. Don Norman:
@MartinaMitz
video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9BdtGjoIN4E

35. UX is…
"User experience" encompasses all aspects
of the end-user's interaction with the
company, its services, and its products.
Don Norman
@MartinaMitz

36. I propose:
UX* should be HX…
Human Experience includes all aspects of a
physical or cognitive interaction between a
human and an eco-system (e.g. company,
society).
@MartinaMitz
* as only UX Designers and drug dealers call their customers “users" ;) a great joke I would love to give the deserved credit to, but can’t find the author - so please reach out!

37. WHATTO LOOK FOR
Some similarities in great thinkers:
@MartinaMitz

38. Some HX-Mindset Observations
Great Design-Thinkers and Problem-Solvers:
• Will hardly give you a direct solution, rather ask you questions first
• Don’t feel comfortable jumping into decisions/commitments without enough context/insights
• Realise that collaboration is key, as they can’t know everything in detail
• Learn to be comfortable with being proven wrong - become modest, with time, egos vanish
• Have the ability to zoom out and look at the bigger picture, while discussing details
• Are analytical / empathetic / self-reflected / confident but humble
Are NOT F***ING UNICORNS!
@MartinaMitz
image: http://1wkf705fg6e2aisrw22uhig6.wpengine.netdna-cdn.com/files/2013/09/UOiOtakn8ds-600x350.jpg - Thanks for the image-inspiration @tWolo!

39. ThankYou!
Martina Mitzieva-Veglia
UX Psychologist
martina.mitz@gmail.com
web, skype, twitter, LI: Martina Mitz
currently:
Berlin, Germany
@MartinaMitzwebinale 2018