Post AWt6IZWKVCgu1JLGt6 by peterme@sfba.social
 (DIR) More posts by peterme@sfba.social
 (DIR) Post #AWt6IWV9j6yAenln8q by peterme@sfba.social
       2023-06-20T14:46:26Z
       
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       (brought over from LinkedIn, thought it may be good for discussion here)...Could #UXDesign practices benefit from higher interest rates?I’ve found myself wondering if the reason it feels like UX has backslid in the past decade or so (away from an intentional practice toward being seen as simply the production of assets; and where any attempt to engage in a meaningful discussion of ‘impact’ leaves the UXers feeling gaslighted) is because of how 0% interest rates (2009-2016, and then again in 2020-2022) encouraged business finances to become divorced from value, and companies were seen primarily as financial instruments with untenable goals (blitzscaling without any concern of profitability).And so user-centered design practices, which assume some degree of ethical rationality on the part of the business (wanting to deliver value for customers) were irrelevant in the eyes of the senior leadership...(1/4)
       
 (DIR) Post #AWt6IXO6QovDPDTfmq by peterme@sfba.social
       2023-06-20T14:46:48Z
       
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       (2/4)...And this thought-thread makes me wonder, as interest rates are no longer zero, and companies are recognizing they have to be responsible about money flows, and that they may need to deliver actual value for customers, etc., if we'll see a re-birth of more thoughtful UX-style practices that seek to operate at the intersection of design and business.I was thinking about how the last flourish of meaningful tech-led innovation pre-dated the financial crisis (and the zero-ing out of interest rates in 2009). That magical time after the dot.bust which saw things like iPhones and “web 2.0” (early social media that had legitimate promise… Flickr, Twitter, etc.) and that since 2009-10, there has been no meaningful innovation just this kind of stuff: (from: https://twitter.com/adamkotsko/status/1658502837121187840?lang=en)
       
 (DIR) Post #AWt6IYOqfX72XopmaW by peterme@sfba.social
       2023-06-20T14:48:06Z
       
       0 likes, 1 repeats
       
       (3/4)...What's so disappointing was how services such as Uber, Lyft, Instacart had actual innovation potential in how they combined emergent capabilities (mobile, big data, marketplaces) to deliver value, but because of the financialization nonsense, they quickly became divorced from that value in favor of scale at any cost, which lead to them operating in obviously unsustainable ways (funded by rapacious venture capitalists), and so anyone who tried to engage in the space sensibly were unable to compete. (And it's not just in this 'new logistics' space... medtech and healthtech companies are going through this as well, and I'm sure it's true in many industries.)Now with money actually costing something, I suspect that over the next 3-5 years we'll see new entrants who approach this the right way and build viable businesses....
       
 (DIR) Post #AWt6IZWKVCgu1JLGt6 by peterme@sfba.social
       2023-06-20T14:48:20Z
       
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       (4/4)This makes me (slightly!) hopeful we'll see a renaissance of thoughtful user experience practice (as Adaptive Path was part of starting in 2001) because when businesses can't simply play 3 Card Monte with finances, they may resort returning to what's at the intersection of design and business.