Good UX is cultural

Leisa Reichelt, in Why most UX is shite, writes:

Companies who really care [about User Experience] shape their organisations, their accounting systems, their culture around their customers. […]

The UI is a symptom of organisational culture - you need to get beneath the skin to craft really, sustainably good UX. […]

There are no Five Simple Steps to making your UX fabulous, there is no simple fix. All of these things are hard and most of them start much higher up in the organisation than the average UX designer ever gets to. […]

Good UX is cultural.

This is the uncomfortable part. UX is often treated as a layer that can be added near the end: a cleaner interface, a better flow, a little research to make the whole thing look responsible.

Reichelt’s point is harder to avoid. The interface is usually a visible symptom of how the organisation works. If the culture, incentives and decision-making are not shaped around customers, the product will eventually reveal that, however polished the screens look.

Good UX does not come from a team being asked to improve the surface. It comes from a company that has organised itself around the people using the product.

Read the entire post.