Value before usability
Why usability isn’t UX’s primary goal
As someone who has been both a Product Manager and a UX Designer, one of the most common misconceptions I often hear in the product world is this:
“Product Management’s primary job is to make the product valuable, whereas UX’s primary job is to make the product usable.”
This likely stems from the repeated statements from Marty Cagan and the Silicon Valley Product Group (SVPG) that…
“In an empowered product team, the product manager is explicitly responsible for ensuring value and viability; the designer is responsible for ensuring usability.”
What I Agree With
To be clear, I agree with these statements regarding ultimate responsibility for ensuring usability and viability. I love the concept of empowered product teams, and I also agree with Marty’s philosophy that these areas of ownership are not exclusive responsibilities. In fact, they are so deeply intertwined it’s nearly impossible to independently isolate them. For example, in a truly collaborative environment:
- Product Managers are still secondary owners when it comes to usability. This means they should actively express concerns regarding usability in a proposed design.
- UX Designers are still secondary owners when it comes to viability. This means they should push back if they see a viability flaw in a business case.
What I Disagree With
Where I disagree with Marty is his belief that “value” is the explicit primary responsibility of Product Managers and not an equal and shared primary responsibility with UX Designers.
Allow me to explain why.
What is Value?
There are a lot of ways to define value, though for the purpose of this discussion I’ll use Marty’s definition which is “whether customers will buy something or users will choose to use something.”
To reinforce who owns value, he claims, “If something ships and the analytics show that it’s either not being bought or not being used, […] you can bet I go right to the product manager with that question.” This makes sense for something not being bought…
But if users are not using it, then shouldn’t you go right to the User Experience expert?
UX is entirely devoted to users, their needs, and their behaviors. “Users not using something” is a behavioral problem that is best understood through user research. It is possible users don’t see the value in the product, it’s too difficult to access the value, the value doesn’t justify the cost, or there simply is no value. Regardless, these are all user problems associated with value. A UX Designer’s primary responsibility is to help their users achieve value.
Usability is not the end goal
A common misconception that requires clarification is the “U” in “UX” stands for users, not usability.
At the core of UX is the responsibility to ensure that users achieve value with what you are providing them. Making a product “usable” is one way UX Designers help users access value, but there’s more than just usability. UX is also responsible for helping ensure a product is useful, desirable, accessible, credible, and findable (as well as delightful, learnable, adoptable, and memorable).
For UX Designers to succeed in their role, value cannot be a secondary responsibility to usability. It has to be a designer’s primary focus.
Can two people own the same thing?
According to Teresa Torres, yes.
But if you still believe in having clear lines of division and ownership, then I would suggest the following:
UX Designers should own “value to users” (which happens to include usability).
Product Managers should own “value to customers and the business” (which happens to include viability).
Both should be experts in providing value in their respective areas and collaborate closely together, bringing different perspectives and insights (especially when customers are the users).
It turns out, a lot of people seem to agree
I wanted to see if others felt the same way, and the response has been overwhelming.
Ironically, I think Marty Cagan would agree too?
In his article, Beyond Usability, Marty concludes, “We need to position user experience design as the heart of product discovery, and keep reminding everyone that product discovery is about discovering products that are not just usable, but valuable and feasible.”
Unfortunately, his most recent articles continue to reinforce the idea that “the product manager is responsible for value and viability, [and] the designer is responsible for usability”. These frequent statements do not position UX at the heart of product discovery. Instead, they position UX as the “usability” limb, a secondary owner when it comes to value.
Takeaways
To be clear, I absolutely love Marty’s articles and product philosophy. Like many others, I have learned so much from his perspectives and insights. In addition, I believe Product Managers should continue to be primary owners of bringing value to customers and the business.
But it’s time to stop saying Product Managers are the explicit end owners of “value” and pretending UX’s primary role is “usability”.
If you are a UX Designer, then your primary responsibility is creating value for your users.
You are an equal owner in this shared primary responsibility with your Product Manager, not a secondary player.
Value must always come before usability.
What are your thoughts?
Is this a battle of semantics? Or is there truth behind these statements? Either way, follow or connect with me on LinkedIn and let me know what you think! Let’s keep this conversation going.
Sincerely,
Mitch Clements
