This presentation was part of the Unconference session.

1. Steve Krug
UxPA 2019 Unconference
Usability’s changing role in
a UX-owned world
Do we still speak
for the trees?

2. © 2001 Steve Krug

3. I hadn’t planned on doing this
 It was keynote I did last week
 Hated to see it go to waste
 Squeezed all the air out
 145 slides > 65
 My motto for the next ten minutes: “Talk fast and break things”
© 2001 Steve Krug

4. First, a confession
 I love usability
 It’s what I’ve done for 30 years
 It’s a great job
 It’s easier much easier than what most people do
 We usually don’t have to create anything
 We make things better
 We’re associated with “ease of use” and “user friendly”
 We’re…the good guys
 (or at least we were)
© 2001 Steve Krug

5. So I’m a big fan of usability
 But I know it’s a UX world now
 “Usability is now a wholly-owned subsidiary of User Experience”
 …and I don’t have a problem with that
 Well, OK, I have a little problem
 UPA (Usability Professionals) became UXPA (User Experience
Professionals) in 2012
 I always spell it “UxPA”
Passive-aggressive foot dragging
 I sometimes refer to the name change as a “land grab”
© 2001 Steve Krug

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7. But they were right to do it
 It was a sensible preemptive move
 If they didn’t do it, someone else would have
© 2001 Steve Krug

8. So, why the title?
© 2001 Steve Krug

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10. Plot summary
 The hero (The Lorax) attempts to protect a forest endangered
by corporate greed
© 2001 Steve Krug

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13. Hence the title
 I’ve always liked to think of us as being like the Lorax
 Except that we speak for the users
 We’ve always been advocates for the best interests of the users
 Sometimes the only advocates they have
© 2001 Steve Krug

14. I love my professional community
 My epiphany years ago
 Banquet night at a UPA conference
 I looked around, and I thought…
© 2001 Steve Krug

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These are
really nice
people!

16. And then a light bulb went off over my head
© 2001 Steve Krug

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Of course they
are! Empathy is a
job requirement.

18. Which is why it particularly bothers me
 …that I’ve had a bad feeling for years now
 …that usability practitioners were being gradually wooed over to
the dark side
© 2001 Steve Krug

19. There’s a meme for that
© 2001 Steve Krug

20. Why I asked you all here today
 I’m going to talk about some questions I’ve been pondering for a
long time
© 2001 Steve Krug

21. Questions like…
 Are we still the same user advocates we used to be?
 Or have forces been gradually reshaping our work and our mission
 …perhaps without us even noticing (like the frog in the pot of water
gradually brought to a boil)
 In other words, are we still the good guys?
© 2001 Steve Krug

22. Questions like…
 Thanks to the rise of UX, we’re more likely to get a seat at the
decision making table now
 But do we actually have more impact?
 And have we traded our souls for a seat at the table?
© 2001 Steve Krug

23. Questions like…
 And finally, are we in danger of losing our way?
 And what can we do about it (without losing your job)?
© 2001 Steve Krug

24. DARK PATTERNS
AND BEYOND

25. People are doing bad things out there
© 2001 Steve Krug

26. Don’t get me wrong
 People are also doing wonderful things
© 2001 Steve Krug

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36. There’s a spectrum from good to bad
 Really good (positive, life changing)
 Good
 Neutral
 Sort of bad
 Bad
 Profoundly bad (destructive of individuals or society)
© 2001 Steve Krug

37. Harry Brignull coined the term
© 2001 Steve Krug
https://www.darkpatterns.org/

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39. Show of hands
 How many of you have been asked to help implement something
that seemed like a dark pattern?
 Did you question it?
 Did you do it? (This is a judgement-free zone)
© 2001 Steve Krug

40. And then there are, well, bad people
 Warning: The word “disruptors” inevitably puts me in rant mode
 Four words: Travis Kalarnick, Mark Zuckerberg
 Favorite disruptor sayings:
 ”Move fast and break things.”
 “We’re just trying to improve people’s lives.”
 “I didn’t realize any of that would happen.”
© 2001 Steve Krug

41. Some are fictional
© 2001 Steve Krug

42. Some self-deluding
© 2001 Steve Krug

43. Some apparently just really, really bad people
© 2001 Steve Krug

44. Unintended consequences?
 “What’s that? ever heard of it.”
 Uber: New York City traffic congestion, impoverished work force
 Airbnb: Impact on housing market
 Facebook: You name it. Take your choice.
 Craigslist: Demise of local newspapers
© 2001 Steve Krug

45. WE’RE BEING
ASKED TO DO
NEW THINGS

46. Usability testing is a great tool
 But we’re increasingly being asked to use it to help determine
how to manipulate users
 Or to determine whether manipulation is working
 We’re asked to report on
 Satisfaction
 Delight
 These are not things we’re historically used to determining
© 2001 Steve Krug

47. A usability test is good for…
 Improving things
 Not:
 Determining whether people “like” things
 Determining whether they will buy/use them
 Determining what will make them use them more
© 2001 Steve Krug

48. Delight is overrated anyway
 Think of the sites and apps you use regularly
 How many are delightful?
 Do you use them because they’re delightful?
 You may like them more because of it
 But I’ll bet you use them because they do the job better or more
conveniently
© 2001 Steve Krug

49. A SEAT AT THE
TABLE

50. A seat at the table!
 We never had much clout
 I always had it wrong
 “Usability will never be an important line item in budgets, like
marketing”
 “We’ll probably always be the first department laid off in slow times”
 But Steve and Jony did the ROI case study
 “You can make more money by designing products that meet users’
needs and are easy to use”
 Now we’re considered crucial
© 2001 Steve Krug

51. But do we really have more clout?
 Do we take part in discussions about tradeoffs between business
interests vs. user interests?
 Or are we often just being asked to
 Help implement the business-centered interests more effectively
 Find users weaknesses that can be exploited
© 2001 Steve Krug

52. WHAT IS TO BE
DONE?

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54. Don’t quit your job on my account
 I’m no shining example
 Phillip Morris and my Dad
 It’s hard to turn work down when you really need it
 “Paychecks are useful for paying rent and buying stuff.”
© 2001 Steve Krug

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Experienced practitioner: “Don’t get me wrong: I’m not
against capitalism and making money…
Me: Me either. One of my ambitions was always to sell
out.
EP: Exactly. I’m happy to sell out. But I have a soul, and I
don’t want to sell my soul to sell out.”

56. Two strategies
 Raise the question
 “Do we really need to do this?”
 “Are you (and your boss) aware that we’re doing this?”
 “Have we thought about how our users/customers will react when they
figure it out?”
 Educate people about what your job/skillset is, and why it’s
valuable
© 2001 Steve Krug

57. There are books for that
 Here are a few I found interesting
© 2001 Steve Krug

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61. To sum up
 Don’t be bullied into using your chisel as a screwdriver
 Educate, educate, educate!
 Ask the difficult question, when possible
 Try to do the right thing, as far as you can
© 2001 Steve Krug

62. The elusive Vonnegut quote
© 2001 Steve Krug

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“There’s really no reason to do the right
thing. It just works out better that way.”

64. © 2001 Steve Krug
Thanks for all the fish
 Send any questions, feedback, gripes to
skrug@sensible.com
@skrug on the twitter
or visit
www.sensible.com

65. © 2019 Steve Krug