Published on | Prototyping: From UX to Front End — Medium Michael Reynolds Photo by Jonathan Velasquez

As Product and User Experience Designers we have to cut through a lot of nonsense in order to the solve problems we are tasked with. I’ve abstracted this list of lessons from my experience as a design practitioner. But I believe these lessons will help people of all different disciplines will get results in life as quickly as possible.

Be patient with people. Expect to need to repeat yourself. Don’t expect people to get it the first time you tell them, instead, expect that you will need to repeat your instructions. People will see and hear what they want to. Human cognitive bias is so strong that it often overpowers reality. If they are expecting to see or hear something different than what you communicate, they probably won’t hear you the first time you say it, and you will need to repeat yourself.
Expect mistakes. Humans are going to make mistakes, so expect and plan on mistakes. Be realistic with your expectations of mere mortals, because unmet expectation is the mother of frustration. If you find yourself in a mentoring role, be kind, gentle and encouraging while giving helpful and constructive feedback.
Human attention is finite. Humans can only focus on one thing at a time, so prioritize your actions and direct their attention to your goal. Pick your battles wisely — be careful how you direct their attention because each move can distract their focus from your goal.
People won’t tell you what they really think. Even when asking people direct questions, they usually don’t reveal what they actually think or answer your question directly. Most people are too nice to tell you what they really think, or are protecting their own interests. Society has taught us to be indirect so we must use our intuition to understand what they really mean. Direct honesty in the right setting is an underappreciated commodity.
Never make assumptions. Always recognize assumptions that are being made, then question and clarify them with your audience, users, or target. You will be amazed at how many paradigms altering information you will uncover when questioning assumptions.
Be open to being wrong. Don’t get attached to your ideas, because there’s a large possibility that a better idea than yours exists, or that you could be entirely wrong. When you get too attached to your ideas, it stifles innovation because it limits you from looking at other options. It changes your perspective from looking at ideas to defending your pride. Don’t stifle innovation by being too attached to your idea.
Always clarify and validate. Your understanding and assessment of a problem may be totally inaccurate. Always clarify your understanding of the problem, and validate your ideas and theories before applying them. Doing so ensures that you are working on the correct problems and ensures that your ideas and theories are correct. Restate and rephrase their problem in your own words, use open-ended questions and to encourage them to open up, but be careful not to add your bias when asking questions.
Seek to understand. Listen as much as you talk. Listen before speaking and be the last to speak. Listen to understand, not to formulate your next question. Seek to understand the problem — seek to understand the user’s experience, pain points, and perspective.
Always ask why gently. Understanding the underlying reasons is incredibly important to understanding the problem and ultimately success. But when you ask others why, you will often reveal holes in their work. So be gentle and careful not to intimidate people with all your “why” questions when trying to understand the problem or questioning assumptions. Don’t cencure them for their mistakes because they will probably already feel dumb for missing what you’re pointing out.
Don’t lose sight of your target audience. It’s easy to forget them, but keeping your audience in your sights will help keep you on the path to success. Stay in touch with the problems your customers are facing. Remember that you probably aren’t the audience you’re targeting. It’s easy to think “I would want X if I were a user so that I could do …” but the problem is that unless you have actually been in that person’s shoes, you won’t know what they want. It will just be assumptions and conjecture on your part to say that. You might guess what they need correctly a few times, but you really have no idea what they need unless you ask them what problems they are facing, or about the needs they have.
Always establish metrics to measure goals, progress, and success before starting. If success is not measurable, it’s difficult to prove the value of your work, and ultimately your worth to the project, client, and company. Push for the definition of success and the measurement of success before starting anything to ensure that you are pursuing the correct goal.
Don’t rush the process. Some things can’t be sped up. When you rush to get something done, you will often skip steps by forgetting them or by making unfounded assumptions. Skipping a step in a process can have long-lasting and detrimental effects. Skipping steps might seem more efficient but it is not, it will often cause unnecessary frustration and cost extra time, money, and effort.
The customer is not always right. It is your job as a UX designer to make people happy by removing their frustration, not by doing exactly what they are asking for. People will often tell you that they want something, but it is often not what they need. It’s your job to remove their frustration, not to be a robot and do exactly what they ask you to do. Clarify and validate their problem before agreeing to solve it in the way they are suggesting. It’s your job to help them see a better option. (Don’t agree to add a button until you understand the underlying reason why they want it.)
Always appreciate feedback, even if it’s negative. Did someone leave you a bad review? Great! What could you have done better? Why did they have a negative experience? Use every interaction as a learning experience. You will not always hear the happy feedback that tells you-you’re doing the right thing, in fact, it will often be discouraging to hear feedback. It often takes thick skin to take feedback, but if someone went out of their way to tell you why they hate your product, and there must be something you can improve upon. Use the interaction, as unpleasant as it may be, as a learning experience. True, some feedback is more useful than others, but what makes it better is your attitude towards receiving it. Also, learn how to give useful and constructive feedback so you’re not that guy yelling useless insults at the managers of a product or experience.
Always keep learning. Doing the same thing over and over again, means you’re not improving. When something isn’t working, learn how to change and pivot quickly. You will stagnate if you stop learning or listening to feedback. Every challenge is an opportunity to learn and grow. The result of learning from challenges is innovation. Every business strives to be an industry leader in innovation because it is what gives you a competitive edge. Stay curious and innovation will happen naturally.
Clarity comes from knowing limitations. In order to master the purpose of your product, you must know the limitations of your product. Knowing what your product can’t do, is just as important as knowing what it can do. Seeing limitations gives you clearer visibility into areas for growth and improvement. It also helps you identify and eliminated space for confusion and that will help you pursue a clear target. Having too broad a focus confuses everyone including yourself, so narrow down your goals. By knowing what your product can’t do, you eliminate distractions and clarify purpose. By knowing what a problem isn’t, you eliminate distractions and clarify the problem at hand.
Success follows passion. No one has ever become a mediocre superstar. Don’t waste years of your life doing something you don’t care about. In order to be successful at anything, you must first be passionate about one thing, then and only then, success will follow. You will not excel at your job if you’re not passionate about what you’re doing. You won’t spend every drop of energy on it, and as a result you will not be successful at it. Paul Graham said, “It’s hard to do a really good job on anything if you don’t think about in the shower.” Work on projects you’re passionate about and turn down projects you’re not. Steve Jobs said, “If you are working on something exciting that you really care about, you don’t have to be pushed. The vision pulls you.” If you find that you’re not passionate about what you’re doing, take steps towards finding a job or career path that you are passionate about. Sometimes it takes years to figure out what your passions are, but once you do, use it to your advantage. Find a niche where your passions and talents intersect, and then specialize and become a passionate expert.
Opportunities only happen once. Second chances are for the movies. The first impression is the most important. You won’t get a second chance at life, so do your best with the opportunity in front of you. You probably won’t get a second chance to explain yourself or make a second impression. Sometimes you’ll find it necessary to pause a moment to organize your thoughts before you speak so that you communicate more clearly. Don’t be afraid to ask for some time to think it over before giving an answer in a high-pressure situation.
Don’t try to do everything yourself. Don’t be afraid to ask for help or collaboration, effective teams are far more successful than any genius ever will be. The foundation of an effective team is the pursuit a common goal. Don’t be a silo of information, learn to collaborate and share your knowledge with others. If others have contributed to your success, give credit where it belongs and thank them for their help. When you genuinely appreciate others, you will be surprised at how happily people will help accomplish your goals.
Good ideas are not worth any money. Ideas are only worth money when are executed properly and when they solve a business or user problem. A product in the hand is worth two dozen ideas in the bush.

I hope you’ve enjoyed this article. Please clap if you enjoyed it and share it with your friends and colleagues! Follow me for more thought-provoking articles on design and life.

Michael Reynolds | Product and UX Designer

20 Life Lessons from a User Experience Designer was originally published in Prototypr on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

20 Life Lessons from a User Experience Designer

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