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UX management challenges to solve in 2022 and beyond
The growing field of UX needs strong managers who can help it get to the level and become fully embedded in businesses
In recent years, the field of UX has matured a lot. People can learn the design practices in a myriad of bootcamps, university programs, and by reading articles on Medium.
After spending a few years working in the field, I realized that one of the big challenges many companies face is how to manage UX as part of an organization that delivers digital products. By this I mean, managing practitioners and teams with different UX skills, and influencing product roadmaps so that design is embedded in the digital product delivery process instead of being viewed more as an afterthought.
With the growing demand for UX people comes a growing demand for UX managers to step up, and 2022 marks the starting point. What will be the biggest 10 challenges UX managers and leaders will have to think about this year and beyond to help the field of UX management mature?
To make this article more digestible, I separated the 10 challenges into two categories: foundation, and ongoing operations. Let’s get started.
Foundation Work
“The important thing is that you’ve got a strong foundation before you start to try to save the world or help other people”.
- Richard Branson
Foundation work refers to any activity that involves laying the groundwork for managing a successful UX team
Onboarding new UX employees
If you manage a UX team, you know it’s not easy to hire good-quality talent in today’s competitive tech landscape. Once employees are hired, UX managers and team leads have to figure out what’s the best plan of action to bring them up to speed. As a rule of thumb, employees in most fields take 6–12 months to fully feel comfortable in a new job, depending on the seniority of the role.
