Why is problem-solving so important for a UX designer?
UX design trend is evolving and emerging fast. Only a couple of years ago UX design was something unnoticed and many would just look at it skeptically. However, nowadays it seems that everyone is going crazy about it. I guess people started noticing the benefit of UX.
The term UX was introduced about 25-30 years ago and has just recently been picked up. 10 years ago, it was hardly possible to hear about UX design. The term is young but the ideology behind it has a very deep history.
It got me thinking if the term UX is new, then what is the ideology behind it that has been alive for centuries. From my point of view and experience, I find “Problem-solving” is the core skill and ideology behind UX. We can look at things from any direction and still see that behind any action and movement in this field we can find problem-solving. For instance, you want to conduct usability testing with your users. You can find 10 problems with the product, but if you don’t know which problem to address the first or the most, then your findings are useless.
No matter how we think about it, we still come to problem-solving. We take any company, product, or service and analyze their situation. We can for sure identify issues that need to be resolved. The difference between successful and failed companies, products, or services is that the first ones addressed the right problems and provided the right solutions at the right time. The latter missed doing that which eventually resulted in their failure.
Blockbuster is a good example of a failed company. Renting video materials was something people loved at that time, but Blockbuster could not handle the new technological opportunities on time and very soon the company disappeared. Netflix on the other hand addressed the problems with correct solutions and became one of the best video streaming companies in the world.
We spend days and weeks going out and meeting our users. We collect tons of materials and data to be able to find the most painful issues. But if we make a mistake with the issues and the actions on them, the consequences could be catastrophic. That is why UX professionals tell you that problem solving is a very important skill a UX designer must have.
There are no straightforward rules or guidelines to use to learn problem solving. You cannot just take one technique and apply it everywhere. Doing that would not work and would not give you the expected results. That is why we have a huge number of techniques that can be applied to find and solve problems.
4 years ago, I was taking courses to learn new skills. When I started learning about Design Thinking, I was honestly surprised and disappointed as well. I was surprised to know that there are things I had not known and when applied properly they could bring tons of benefits. I was disappointed that I was using them in the my project. The more I learned the more disappointed I got. The reason is that UX professionals around the world were using all of those techniques. What I was doing seemed was not enough to be considered a UX designer.
Until I started using adplist.org my mind has been stuck with that idea. In adplist.org I could talk to UX professionals in 1:1 meetings. The more I talked to UX designers, the more I discovered that most of them don’t use most of those school-taught techniques. They were just like me, using whatever technique they can to identify problems and find solutions.
I wanted to find more so I approached a number of designers asking them how they solved problems. Besides that, I analyzed how big tech companies use all those shiny techniques and solve problems they face. I discovered every single company or individual I analyzed uses their own adjusted methods and techniques to solve problems. I discovered that it does not matter what techniques they use, what methods they apply, or what methodologies they take. The only thing that matters is to find the right problems and act on them.
I have changed my understanding of a UX designer. For me, UX designers are problem solvers and I believe I’m one of them. No matter what methods or techniques we use, the main purpose would still be to identify problems and act on them to result in a great user experience. I still take courses to this day, and I have no intention to stop doing that. Because I do believe now that the more I learn the more techniques I can have to choose from. Besides, the more I practice the better problem solver I become.
One more thing that changed in me is that I don’t use any technique blindly. Instead, I think about which techniques or approaches are the best for the situation and try to use them. It does not matter what techniques or methods are used; the core purpose anyway still be to provide a better user experience by addressing the right issues.