Jason Clauss’ Post

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🟨🟧🟥 Product Strategy | Product Design | Product Leadership | I turn ideas into products | I bring products to market

Wednesday's post about the UX pyramid drew the ire of a blubbering nincompoop who took issue with my roast of fake UXers. While everything he said in the comments section was a case study in emotional incontinence, I zeroed in on one thing. He didn't like that I was being mean to "others who attempt to provide value". That's a problem. I'd hope that it'd be obvious that "attempting to provide value" and "providing value" aren't the same thing. But if you have a cabinet of participation trophies then you might be unable to spot the difference. Not only are there no points for trying, but if, in trying, you harm others, you not only don't deserve a reward, but you deserve withering criticism. In some cases, you may deserve worse. Isn't it interesting how, when a quack doctor proposes dangerous "remedies" or pushes nonexistent conditions, and they receive a barrage of criticism, even hate, that people don't cry about how the critics are "punching down" BUT when a quack designer proposes dangerous design ideologies, anyone who criticizes them is a meanie poo-poo pants? Why do some in the UX community insist on defending its most useless constituents? I suspect the primary cause is simple: people still think UX—and the tech industry that it services—is all about vapid mobile apps for dating, viral videos, and ordering bespoke organic beard balm. It's like they are completely unaware that EVERYTHING is tech now and that poor design literally ends lives, maybe even whole civilizations. The perceived frivolity of tech led to the preschool mentality so rampant in the UX community. And that mentality in turn led to the proliferation of techbros. These are guys who weren't sufficiently ridiculed so now they think their bad ideas are good. Remember how $120 million was invested in a juicer that needed internet to work. While the world of normal people savaged the Juicero, the community of Silicon Valley infants was so insulated from reality they no longer knew what a bad idea even IS. We're left with a mindset around product design that actively rejects every principle of design that humanity has accumulated over a million years of toolmaking. This brings me to Stockton Rush and the OceanGate disaster. Four people perished thanks to Rush's break with reality. Keep in mind that Rush was also aboard the Juicero of Submarines, meaning that this isn't a run-of-the-mill case of greedy corporate executives trading human lives for profit. This clown truly believed his carbon fiber suppository was well-designed. He ignored literally every submarine design principle to make that POS. Do you need anymore proof the techbro way of life has escaped into the wild? It will come for your medical records. It will come for your infrastructure. It will come for your nation's military. Everything will start falling apart, if not actively attempting to harm its user. And it is then that you'll wish the people who designed this stuff were mocked more and harder. Start now.

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Farha T.

Product Designer 🔹 SAAS | B2B | Data visualisation in design

1mo

Poor design can have devastating consequences, and those who defend these "useless components" are likely the same individuals who shout "all lives matter" and boast "good vibes only" in their Instagram bios. I worry about the future, as I already see the repercussions. As we move forward, these tech bros tend to hire only others like themselves—those with man buns, baggy jeans, and a "cool designer" label—to perpetuate the system.

Arno Walter

Senior UX-Designer and Frontend Developer

4w

I agree but there is one think that really troubles me: Where is the good UX that deserves our praise? Where are our success stories?

Keith Ford

Design Strategist | ex-Amazon

1mo

Same can be said for what's happening in politics and the beliefs in "alternate facts," can't believe we're reliving 2016

Liam Friedland

Design / Innovation / Strategy

4w

Amen!  Preach brother!!

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