How to deal with frustration when working in UX

In Part I: Dealing with Frustration in UX, I explored the importance of understanding the problem before we can work on it.

In this post, I explore three scenarios frequently mentioned in my mentoring sessions so that you can apply this newly acquired knowledge. Hopefully, that should give you some ideas and coping strategies to consider.

1. Do more, faster, now.
2. Do as you are told
3. Don’t worry about user experience and user needs; focus on increasing conversion.

If you don’t identify with these three situations but still feel frustrated at work, the following sections may give you some ideas on how to cope.

Do more, faster, now.

When an organization’s managers value making money above all else, are preoccupied with sales or pressured to meet investor expectations, they are under great pressure to do more, faster and cheaper (“urgently”) and focus on the short term.

It may happen that management does not know how to achieve its objectives or solve a problem and changes its priorities (and its mind) without explaining why (the infamous “throw things at the wall and see what catches”).

These situations often cause quite a bit of frustration if we dislike the chaos or want to contribute value but feel we are not doing so.

The first step is to understand ourselves, the people around us and the context.

If you have not started on the path of self-knowledge, this is a perfect time to begin. You can start by asking yourself some questions:

• How does this affect you?
• Why does it affect you?
• What frustrates you about this situation?
• Prioritize frustrations (as you would a user’s pain points) etc.

As mentioned above, you must also understand the stakeholders and the business context to begin to reframe the situation, devise solutions and find a way that works in your context.

Here are some questions to avoid getting frustrated when we are asked to do something that comes up at the last minute or that we suspect will not add much value:

• Why is it necessary?
• Why is it necessary now? What happens if I don’t do it now?
• How will it be used and by whom?
• Is what you are asking me to do really urgent? Why?
• If I do, I will have to stop something that someone else is counting on.
• Do I have to do everything you ask, or is there a minimally viable solution we can do instead?
• Can I reuse something instead of spending hours on a new presentation?
• Is there anyone other than me who can help?

Suppose you want to focus on managing your frustration with a general situation that keeps repeating itself over and over again. In that case, you could apply Design Thinking, state the problem and prepare a “How could we” statement to initiate an ideation process to solve your frustration.

Here are some other ideas to consider:

• If you ask the right questions when you are tasked with a project, you’ll know where you stand and you may learn to anticipate projects that end up on the shelf.
• Adjust your expectations to the situation.
• Don’t fall in love with every project. Instead, choose the ones that matter most to you, find the limitations and work around them. Try to learn from everything you do and enjoy your craft, even if the project is cancelled or changed.
• Choose your “battles”. If you try to do everything (perfectly), you will be disappointed and frustrated and may end up suffering from chronic stress. Chronic stress will affect your physical and mental health. Even if you don’t notice the effects of continued stress, you will see them someday.
• If the company you work for expects you to always go “the extra mile” for no extra pay and no apparent benefit to you, ask yourself why you do it.

If none of the above is possible or you have tried, but it hasn’t worked out, you may want to look for another project or workplace that is more aligned with your interests. Finding something that suits you better will be easier now that you know yourself better.

In the meantime, you still have to go to work. Working at what we love should be enjoyable. But if it’s not, and you don’t have a quick way out, you can combat frustration by changing your approach and reevaluating your priorities.

• If you can’t reduce your workload, work on being more efficient to get more done with less effort.
• Ask yourself if you expect your job to give you all the satisfaction you need. If work is stressful and frustrating, look elsewhere for joy and satisfaction. Do your job to the best of your ability, but don’t expect more from it than it can give you.
• If you spend all day in front of the computer, find fun or pleasurable activities to take care of your body and mind; this will help dissipate stress and general frustration…

Do as you are told and shut up.

If you are frustrated because you have to work only on what others have told you or because there is a boss at the top dictating what to do, then you work in a hierarchical culture with little or no room for collaboration.

You may feel frustrated because you are disempowered, have no voice or your ideas are ignored.

Stop and reflect on why this bothers you. Establish priorities. Make a list of things you can accept or tolerate from time to time and things you can’t because they trigger your frustration.

Here are some ideas for dealing with this situation and managing your frustration:

• Ask the right questions at the right time (why, what for, for whom, etc.). Don’t take anything for granted.
• Find a space where your voice can be heard and you feel you make valid contributions (e.g., a peer group to help each other, learn and be inspired, a mentor, etc.).
• If you are in charge of a team, establish formal collaboration spaces and channels to share your work, so that stakeholders can see the progress of your work at any time (and educate them in the process). (A whiteboard or link to a virtual collaborative wall works very well).
• Every little good thing counts in difficult situations, so celebrate every little victory even if it doesn’t seem like much.

If none of the above is possible or satisfactory enough, see the previous point on finding a more compatible workplace or project.

No matter the user; increase conversion!

If the company does not have user-centric KPIs (e.g. CSAT Customer Satisfaction), your work on user experience may not be valued or even wanted.

Getting frustrated because we must work to maximize revenue (sometimes in spite of the user experience) means we don’t understand the situation. We cannot control the company’s strategy or the decisions that result from it. What we can control in this situation is what we do, say or think.

You can, for example::

• Prepare a business case for linking user satisfaction to business results using customer/user KPIs.
• Next, find a champion to help you drive the adoption of these user-related metrics and their use in decision making.

NoteIt is always better to start with a pilot test before asking “the company” to adopt them for all projects.

• If there are no formal objectives or metrics of successIn addition, it attempts to identify what the company defines as success (e.g., more sales, decrease in returns, etc.). That will give you a clear idea of what you need to achieve. Then use all your knowledge of interaction, usability and behavioral psychology to advance these goals (always within an ethical and systemic framework, where you take into account not only business outcomes but also unintended consequences).
• Offer your stakeholders alternatives to achieve the same or better business results while improving the UX (you will have to measure it somehow) (I insist, in an ethical way).
• If you don’t have time to educate others, become more efficient to free up time.
• Uses research methods compatible with the given budget and time frame.
• Adopt free tools if your company allows it; don’t expect them to give you the “perfect” tool you asked for (but ask for it anyway 🙂
• Learn the vocabulary of business and the basics of your organization’s business strategy, and what is possible to do (even if it is not done). It will give you a different perspective and broaden your vision.

As we said, if none of the above is possible or satisfactory enough, as we mentioned before, it may be time to look for a new workplace or project that is more in line with your expectations and beliefs.

In a nutshell

There is no single solution that works for everyone. There may not even be a “solution” anymore, because if something in your environment changes, the “solution” may no longer be a “solution”.

Summarizing the key points:

1. Approach this challenge as an ongoing process
2. Use a more systemic approach, where you know every part of the situation (starting with yourself, your stakeholders, the context of the company, the situation beyond the company in your city, your country, the world). Analyze not only what is happening, but also what can happen, and use this knowledge to adapt, rethink or test different approaches to make your goals more realistic and achievable.
3. Use a more strategic approach: instead of asking, ask more questions that will lead to more clarity, alignment, reflection and collaboration (at the right time). Don’t forget that this is a long-term process…
4. Manage your expectations.
5. You have many tools at your disposal; make User Experience something you live, not a job you do.

I’ve shared many ideas, but pick one: start small. One small action a day will add up and, in the end, you will get the results you need.

If you would like to have a mentor to help you in this process, you can book a first short appointment with me to get to know each other and see if I can help you along the way.

Photo by Bonnie Kittle at Unsplash