The truth about UX
After years of being on the calls and sitting in the rooms this book describes-the intricate details of UX that nobody tells you about. Not the design reviews, roadmaps or meetings, just all the hard truths that nobody wants to talk about or simply does not have the collective experience and knowledge to do so. I was once asked be a college, "Do you think they treat you differently because your a contractor or because you have more experience than they do?".
Much of UX was misunderstood, or simply untrue. This book is the record of unlearning those myths and replacing them with what actually held up.
You were probably told and or believe that UX is creative, strategic, technical, and exists above visuals and interfaces. Some of that is true, in the narrow way good marketing is true. I don't think the people spreading these ideas were lying-they were simply operating under their own narrow understanding, often repeating what they'd been told without questioning whether it still reflected reality.
This isn't your typical book about UX claiming its technical self importance for shipping product out the door. In fact It's the opposite. I believe this work matters more than the mythology surrounding it. But you can't build real expertise on a cartoon version of a profession. You need to understand the craft, the rigor, the politics, and the realities of getting good design shipped.
This book doesn't proceed gently. The chapters take clear positions, sometimes provocative ones, because I'd rather you disagree with something stated plainly than agree with something diluted into meaninglessness. Read it in order. The arguments build on each other, and some of the most important chapters cover the parts of this profession no boot camp teaches-the politics, self-protection, and realities of surviving inside organizations that don't automatically reward good design judgment.
Some of what follows may make you uncomfortable, especially if your professional identity is tied to one of the myths this book challenges. That's okay. Sit with the discomfort before deciding whether you agree. I'd rather this book be useful than comforting.
My hope isn't that you walk away with a cleaner definition of UX. It's that you leave with a clearer understanding of what this work actually requires, what it doesn't, and what it really takes to become exceptional in organizations that don't hand out authority for free.
That's the truth about UX, as best as I've been able to figure it out. I hope it's worth reading-even the parts that are hard to hear.
- Edward Amaral
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