The Process of Least Resistance

Nothing is “just” a tool. The assumptions baked into tooling and methods make certain things easier, and other things harder. This is especially true in an era of AI, but has been the case even earlier, with designers choosing to do what is easiest in Figma or within Agile, compared to what will allow them to accomplish their goals. The field has shifted to a post-hoc reasoning model where our decisions are retroactively linked to the goal. But this this model is inimical to a field that is supposed to be based in research, and has undermined the influence and effectiveness of UX as a strategic function. To reverse this trend, we must revise our relationship with our tools.