Adventure Chapter (The User Experience Consultant)
Chapter 3: Adventure
Every day, there’s a new challenge to be solved. Consultants work with clients to solve big problems that can have a direct and positive impact on their business. It’s an adventure out there. A new domain, a new market, a new set of users, new set of processes to understand, and new things to learn with every new project.
I beg to differ that product companies are more interesting and challenging for UX designers, because everything is more or less sorted — well, at least with the large product firms. Once you solve the big problem and the core product is built, where is the adventure? All else that remains is building on top of that fundamental user experience and doing patch work, day in and day out. You’re basically moving pixels, not people. Not everyone gets a chance to be in the initial development of the product. Only the founding or core design team gets the unique opportunity to design or redesign the product from the ground-up. Anyone who joins the design team later, is more or less constrained and confined to a certain module, or a certain touchpoint of the customer journey and not the entire product as such.
As products grow, design teams grow as well, and your actual contribution is inversely proportional to the company growth. I can’t make a definitive statement, but that’s been my observation, so far. New features are exciting to build, however it’s not an everyday affair. Also the entire company is focused on solving one big problem and everyone is there to do their bit, and you’re a cog in the wheel; especially with the large product companies, where the actual contribution is trivial, in most cases.
Consulting gives you new opportunities to solve and keeps your thinking and learning on the edge. You have limited time and resources to figure out solutions for the client. You have to win and move on to the next. In my experience, I have learnt that you start to work and begin to deliver on day one. Everything is urgent and you’ll learn to prioritize, figure out order in chaos, and most importantly communicate that order with your project team and the client. Your vision for the solution is the roadmap.
Kill the humdrum. You’ll never get bored in consulting as the very nature of this job is demanding and it pushes you out of your comfort zone, every single day. A product firm might be exciting in the initial months or years, however after a period of time, you’ll notice the monotony. Moving within your domain can be a relatively easy affair. My observation is that most people are confined to a single domain, for the sheer reason that they started in the domain, due to an exciting opportunity in the initial stages of their career. Boredom can kick in after a few years, and then new possibilities start to dwindle as you gain experience and climb the ladder. However as you climb, you’re equally going down the single domain lane. If you’re interested in the product design career path, it’s best to gain exposure in multiple domains, over a period of time. Unless you’re keen on being an expert in only one particular domain.
If you get an opportunity to work with an organization which has products, services, and solutions (a mix of product and service) you must consider it. Such companies can offer you the best of both worlds and you should grab such a learning opportunity. Right now, the AI wave is enabling a fresh new opportunity and adventure for UX consultants. Most products and applications are being redesigned or being disrupted and it’s a good time to be in the design consulting business.
