đ Hey UXers, Miranda here! Hope youâre ready to survive another week.
Today, I want to share an interesting challenge from one of our community members that I think quite a few of you will most definitely relate to:
âWorking at an org with low UX maturity, like not even closeâ
There is no doubt in my mind that the vast majority of designers experience a company or team that really has no idea what the value of UX even is.
Often that translates into just pushing pixels around and debating endlessly for even the smallest improvements for usersâŚ
Let me tell you what I found to work and have now helped several other designers do the same.
The "Design Factory"
In 2017, I joined a team where the only other designer was constantly bombarded with requests.
"Make this email" "Create this graphic" "Design this feature."
It was brutalâhe was a factory worker. It became clear that no one understood the value a designer could bring to the table; they saw us merely as pixel pushers full stop.
Time for change
I hadnât ever been in a space quite that bad but I knew I had to at least try and make and effort to show people the real value of UX before considering looking for another job.
This transformation wasn't overnightâit took 4-6 months of investigation and over a year to see real impact. But it can be done.
So let me break down what that actually looks like:
1. Lead with Curiosity, Not Conclusions
It's super easy to jump to the conclusion that everyone is against you and wallow over it. But more often than not Iâve found it boils down to a lack of understanding.
Before jumping to conclusions:
Ask stakeholders about their perspectives on the current ways of working
Identify the pain points that each side is feeling
This approach accomplishes 2 things: it helps you gather valuable context and demonstrates your willingness to help improve current processes.
2. Set clearer expectations
It might seem a bit scary at first but start pushing back on prescriptive demands.
If a stakeholder comes at you with:
âWe need this featured designed by EOW. Hereâs what it needs to do.â
â Try: "Would you mind helping me understand the background/context of this feature? Itâll help me create a better design proposal for you."
or
â Try: "Can I have 2 extra days to run this feature through usability testing so I can provide you with more confidence in the design solution?"
You see how both focus on the value you can provide them, if given what you need.
3. Educate without assumptions
The reason your stakeholders might have no idea how to work with UX is probably not because they hate youâŚ
Itâs more likely one of two things:
They donât have experience working with designers, or very little. So they actually have no idea what a designer is suppose to do.
Theyâve worked with inexperienced or unwilling designers previously. This is a tougher mountain to climb because your stakeholders are jaded in their perceptions of what value a designer can bring.
The good news is if your stakeholders are even remotely open to seeing what value a designer can bring, you can educate them.
đ Practical Application
Let me share with you exactly what I did in 2017:
Instead of wallowing in self pity or being angry at my stakeholders, I âŹď¸
Conducted stakeholder interviews on both sides
Asked the team to take a new approach to working together to address the pain points identified
Track, test, and iterate as needed
Demonstrate the value of the design process at every opportunity
After all this, we saw a significant decrease in the prescriptive demands and a huge increase in bandwidth allotted to design tasks.
Not every mountain in moveable
Before you get too eager and jump into taking action. Let me tell you one more story. A few years ago I worked for a non-profit, volunteering my time, and after a LOT of pushback from the founder we ran some usability testing and the truth finally came out:
đŠ âI donât care what the users say itâs my product and I want it this way.â
I couldnât leave fast enough and needless to say that product flopped.
All of that to say is that sometimes you really do work with people who just want the pretty pictures and Iâd advise you to jump ship as quickly as possible since itâs not an environment any designer will benefit or grow from.
I challenge you
Take these 3-steps and see what happens:
Step 1: Prepare a set of questions that will help you get to the bottom of why your stakeholders operate the way they do. Want some suggestions? LMK in the comments.
Step 2: Sit down with 1-3 stakeholders and ask your questions
Step 3: If you feel youâre getting a better understanding, keep going! And propose a few changes to the current way of working.
And remember that the changes wonât happen overnight and youâll likely experience some push back. Thatâs why itâs always important to reinforce that youâre not just trying to help yourself (or the UX team) but everyone involved.
Final thought
Iâve seen various designers be successful when taking this approach.
In my opinion itâs absolutely worth the effort to try and change the view of design but you gotta know when you are up against folks who are fully stuck in their ways and move on because you will not benefit or grow in a space like that.
Keep reading
What to do when team collaboration âfeels offâ â You canât retro your way out of broken collaboration because the real issue isnât that people donât know itâs broken â itâs that no one has diagnosed why itâs broken, so you need to interview stakeholders, analyze the patterns, and present findings (not opinions) to rebuild trust and implement changes that actually stick.
â a few more ways I can help
The Stakeholder Reset â Stakeholders make decisions without you, then expect you to âmake it work.â You know youâre capable of more, but the relationship is brokenâand no one knows how to fix it. This guide walks you through diagnosing why trust broke down and rebuilding it through research and intentional action. Youâll get a 6-week plan, structured conversation guides, and progress metrics to shift from frustrated executor to strategic partner. The gap isnât talentâitâs doing the work to reset the relationship.
The Design Impact Brief â A clear, step-by-step template that helps you articulate the problem, define the intended impact, outline your reasoning, and show the results of your design work â even when you donât have perfect data. The Design Impact Brief gives you a structured way to explain context, goals, stakeholders, hypotheses, and evidence, so your work is understood for its thinking and not just its visuals.
1:1 Mentorship â Work directly with me to navigate a specific challenge, refine your strategic framing, or practice presenting to stakeholders. Get personalized feedback on your actual work and build confidence for high-stakes conversations.
would love the list of questions to ask during stakeholder interviews. Iâm currently battling this exact problem at Nvidia because they are so engineering forward.