UX Series: Learn to Unlearn

We can't solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them. - Albert Einstein

I'll be the first to admit that I have fallen prey to my own know-it-all mentality. A past version of me saw my skillset, years of meeting deadlines, and quarterly goals as a superpower. How silly I was, letting my ego dictate best practice. Today, I know better, today, I listen first then speak, today, I know nothing with the possibility of knowing more than yesterday. It's all about perspective and how you understand it in your own context and apply your mind to progress. This is how I start:

STEP ONE: LEARN TO UNLEARN

It all starts with an acknowledgment: I KNOW NOTHING. Difficult to digest for a seasoned design and UX professional but as the quote by Einstein puts it: you can't solve problems with the same kind of thinking we used when we created them. By putting yourself in a position to learn, you open the door of missed opportunities.

System one thinking and years of affirmation are to blame for this difficulty in learning to unlearn. As design professionals, we follow the principles, tick all the inclusive boxes and tap into our past success and failures via an unconscious pattern-matching brain to deliver a result. This makes life easier, and sometimes the result is pretty legit. However from my past implementation of this process, I found myself building a sort of legacy design thinking, a rehashing of ideas and moments to pass off as innovative and original. Bollocks to that. There must be a better way.

Side read: If you wish to know more on legacy thinking, I suggest checking out Richard Mulholland's book - Legacide. See below for link.

MY REAL EXAMPLE OF LEARNING TO UNLEARN:

I recently sat in on a project as a support stakeholder. It was the third overhaul of a digital platform and my knowledge of the past discussions and results were needed to shed light on the way forward. This past knowledge was my strength but also my weakness. I soon understood that I had to unlearn if I was to make a meaningful contribution.

As I sat there, I forced myself to unlearn the past versions of the platform. This would encourage a reduced dependence on the legacy design of the platform and provide a clean slate for new learning to begin. My pattern-matching, system-one thinking brain was screaming out in the first few meetings, but instead of leading us down a path we all knew and were comfortable with, I suggested the path less travelled, taking us back to the real reason 'WHY' the platform existed.

It's key to note that past knowledge, albeit shown as a weakness in this situation through pattern-matching, legacy thinking, was a strength in data accumulated over time. I understood from previous versions of the platform that certain user flows and behaviours were constant. Small nuggets of valuable interactions and intents that could be useful to note on the next version. This is what we would build from - solid data.

This shift led the group to realise that the starting point to understanding HOW people engage with our platform was not from the homepage down, like most sitemaps and system-one patterns have you think, but from a content conversion page OUT. This paradigm shift was huge and only achievable by learning to unlearn.

RESULT OF LEARNING TO UNLEARN

We essentially built out the platform thinking based on solid data rather than built on opinions and past thinking. We opened new opportunities, created better user connections, were able to test them at scale and set an initial user flow strategy that was based on the best conversion thinking available for the future.

This was just the start. Once the unlearn is achieved, new thinking unlocked, and the user flow structure understood, you need to validate the connections. This is where the next part of the UX series takes us, how understanding a purpose is the key to mapping the user flow intent. This is a process I dub: P.O.B.O or PURPOSE - OBJECTIVE - BEHAVIOUR - OUTCOME.

STEP TWO - SETTING A P.O.B.O - CLICK HERE TO READ

This series is part of my userjourney musings. If you like what you read, like it, share it or comment below. I really appreciate the feedback.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

Side video: Below is a short TEDx clip by Navi Radjou on Learning to Unlearn. Zen power.

Side read: The idea of learn to unlearn, in a way, is similar to the First Principles - see article link below. The First Principle breaks a problem down to its simplest form to better understand its moving parts. Learning to unlearn suggests the problem to break down is our way of processing the problem.