UX and the Feynman Technique

How a teaching framework is valuable to UX.

Illustration of Richard Feynman standing in front of a chalkboard his favorite place to lecture.

If you are not familiar with Richard Feynman (1918–1988) American theoretical physicist and educator, I highly recommend Googling him, watching some of his lectures, and digging into his teaching techniques.

The Feynman Technique:

Figure 0.1: Diagram of the Feynman Technique

The 4 steps framework is quite simple.

1. Pick a topic to learn
2. Teach it to someone else (preferably a child)
3. Use source materials if you get stuck
4. Simplify any explanation through analogy

Hopefully, you recognize the Feynman Technique, and I prefer every UX Designer follow it both in their own practice as well as with their clients. Learning is a lifetime skill and UX designers need to learn in abundance to do their jobs well. Because the systems we solve problems for are constantly changing, we are expected to quickly be/become experts in any domain through learning.

“As I get older, I realize being wrong isn’t a bad thing like they teach you in school. It is an opportunity to learn something.” — Richard Feynman

I work with students and mentors and I like to use this sample.

Me: How much do you know about a lawn mower?
Student: Not much, besides that it cuts grass I suppose.
Me: If you go to work for John Deere as a UX designer how much do you have to know about a lawn mower?
Student: Let me guess…A lot.
Me: You are damn straight! John Deere is a global powerhouse for the agriculture business sector. An X9 Combine costs between 600K and 1 million dollars and they have sophisticated autonomous vehicle technology being implemented onto farms that are way ahead of our consumer vehicles…