The future has nothing to do with tech but people, critical thought and leadership.
I gave a talk 8 years ago in Montréal where I suggested that the future for #UX would fall into five areas, if we were to see progress.
Purpose will instruct Process
Process continues to overshadow purpose. Agile. Lean. Waterfall. We continue to fix issues and build backlogs rather than spend as much time as possible in agreeing on purpose or answering “why”. My concern here is that if we keep fixing issues and checking boxes we lose opportunities to solve fundamental problems impacting people.
Real world collaboration
I would suggest we aren’t swimming in the complex as Weinberger notes, but treading water in the shallow end of critical thinking. We are however, collaborating globally like never before on a global scale. That is exciting in terms of seeing the adjacent possible being demonstrated, not just theoretically explained.
Technology will be viewed as a possible solution
While I think we have defaulted to the mindset that “there’s an app for that” I am seeing examples of how we are leveraging technology to consider other possibilities. That said, it’s still challenging for humans to forget the name of the thing seen, and create new worlds and possibilities. Hence the title of this talk – adaptation is not a strength of humans.
Creative corporate culture
This has come about before the pandemic but has been accelerated in many ways. While this time has been stressful for everyone globally, the creative voices have been given platforms (no pun intended) and encouraged to share with greater confidence.
Trust and Respect
This will be a “forever challenge” for people. Some say this needs to be earned. I would suggest that we should leading with belief that everyone is sharing with the best of intent.