UX leadership is failing (and what we can do about it)

Design spent years trying to get a seat at the leadership table. But in too many cases, the inability to drive real impact is resulting in resources being cut and influence diminished.

It's been a brutal year for UX. Even a cursory glance at UX job postings on LinkedIn reveals that the relatively few opportunities out there are getting hundreds of applicants within hours of being posted. The chance of even being called back for an open role is incredibly slim. Research suggests UX roles are being eliminated disproportionately to other key functions like Engineering. Leadership opportunities are even more scarce with VP and Executive level roles almost impossible to find. Even key design leadership roles at large companies like J&J, IBM, and Expedia are in some instances being eliminated. UX influence, it seems, has been greatly marginalized through countless rounds of layoffs this year. There are probably many factors, but the one that jumps out at me is that after years of wanting to be at the leadership table where big decisions are made, in too many cases, UX leadership is failing to deliver.

Where do UX leaders come from?

Similar to engineering and product management, design leaders typically come from one of two paths:

One career trajectory is from the management path where they start as UX managers usually leading a handful of individual contributors. Eventually, becoming managers and then Directors, VPs, and Heads of Design. The challenge is that the role evolves, but the people sometimes don’t. These people tend to carry the “manager” mindset with them even though leading at a Director or Executive level has an entirely new set of leadership skills and expectations.

The other path is by becoming a very senior individual contributor. Typically, these people spend time at the Lead or Principal level and are promoted to Directors, VPs, and Heads of Design. The challenge for these people is they tend to focus on the design solution being delivered rather than the larger organizational context of the design org and how design fits into the other functions. This robs the UX function of its…