UX Skills For Advanced Technology

I would like to draw your attention to some very strong trends in the UX/tech world: I recently shared a post which generated a lot of interest on automated UX design systems which have the ability to create a fully standards-compliant website. Automated, as in no human intervention. Fast Company also published an article a a little while ago claiming that these types of technologies would make UX design and research obsolete. Simultaneously, UX is facing VR fueled next generation internet (the Metaverse), embedded and wearable technology, blockchain technology, all of which require completely different approaches to user experience.

If discussing these type of topics is making you nervous - that is a good thing. They should make anyone who makes a living doing UX for web and mobile sit up and take notice. If you've thought it through, you might be asking yourself questions like: How will I create a smooth user experience for a computer that's a sweater? What's the design template for a VR interface? And how much competition will these automated UX systems give me?

This article will take a look at some of these questions and hopefully give some direction on bridging the gap between our current e-commerce driven UX and these advanced technologies. Human-computer interaction has typically been on the cutting edge of technological advances, and having a forward leaning mindset is even more critical in this time of exponential growth if we are to stay relevant. So let's take a closer look at these new technologies, how they interact together, and some practical advice on how to adapt to them.

Future Trends

Let's start by trying to paint a picture of what the future landscape might look like. Laying this out should give us a concrete picture to shoot for, not just preparing for "the future". I gave a talk at STLUX 2018 on the future of UX which came out of months of strategic futures research (you can see the full slides for this talk if you're interested in learning more). Let's start with a small example of these disruptors that we can piece together in the next section:

• Virtual Worlds/AR: There are a couple of things that will need to happen before adoption of VR becomes widespread - a set of standards which will unify the different efforts right now, and an invisible convenient user experience (e.g., contact lenses, Google Glass, gloves). There is also a big push on migrating the physical world into the virtual, which is being enabled by low cost 3D scanning. While the IoT is bringing the digital to the physical, VR is doing just the opposite.
• Just a quick note about UX for VR - assuming the next generation of the web is AR/VR driven doesn't mean all the content will be created from scratch. It's a safe bet that the 1.9 billion websites today will both be imported and continue on in its current form for a while.
• Wearable/Invisible/Cybernetic Tech: Computers are getting smaller and smaller, and becoming more embedded in our lives and bodies. This means we are rapidly approaching a phase of "continuous connectivity" where we could be connected around the clock. If this sounds far-fetched, read this quote by Leonard Kleinrock "The internet will be everywhere available on a continuous basis and will be invisible in the sense that is will disappear into the infrastructure, just as electricity is, in many ways, invisible. The Internet of Things will be an embedded world of the Internet of Invisible Things."
• Artificial Intelligence/Machine Learning: I'm not in the camp that thinks AI will take over the world. But it will be an enabler for exponential technological growth, allowing us to make analyses with much greater speed and precision, and find patterns in large data sets that are impossible for us. Advances in quantum computing will further boost this capability. Incredibly, here's a person procedurally generated with AI from This Person Does Not Exist:

• Blockchain/Cryptocurrency: This is no doubt a technology that is in danger of being overlooked by UX due to its lack of direct interaction . But don't be fooled - there is a huge push towards a digital only economy, and this is will be a powerful engine which will provide secure and stable virtual transactions once it matures and it becomes regulated. China is already leading the way with it's government sponsored e-CYN.
• Online Shopping, Brick & Mortar (BAM) Declining: It's probably no surprise that online shopping is on the rise, and that many physical retail stores are having difficulty keeping up.
• Automation: By automation I'm referring mostly to autonomous vehicles, especially in the delivery and transportation sectors. Businesses are spending a lot of money finding ways to deliver everything without using a human.

It was a little startling to see how many of the predictions from this presentation came to pass ahead of schedule (driven into hyperdrive by the COVID-19 pandemic, no doubt). I'm thinking specifically of the decline in BAM shopping, the Metaverse, and automated delivery in particular.

Painting The Big Picture

When thinking about these technologies, it's important not to think of them in isolation. If you were trying to figure out the impact of cell phones, digital cameras, and GPS in the late 90's, do you think you could have imagined these could be combined to create something like Pokemon Go? If so, you're not alone - according to UCLA CS Prof Loenard Kleinrock:

?“It is far easier to predict the likely infrastructure of the future internet than it is to predict its applications. We have been woefully inadequate in predicting the major and the explosive applications in the past (e.g., email, the World Wide Web, YouTube, peer-to-peer networking, search engines, shopping engines, blogs, social networks, etc.)."

There is a real temptation to look at new technologies as separate, siloed entities. But the real trick is understanding their strengths and how they might interact together to form a unified system.

Sample Scenario: Putting our example technologies above to use, imagine the following scenario: a VR ordering system for pharmaceuticals where designer drugs (based on your DNA) are securely ordered and purchased online using just-in-time manufacturing and delivered to your house by a flying drone.

Now, try and answer these questions:

• What is the customer journey?
• Where are the UX/UI touch points?
• Where would you predict pain points and friction?
• Imagine developing a usability test plan

This is just one of thousands of possible scenarios, but it gets the point across - applying the user centered skills and critical thinking skills you use now are the things that will transfer.

Some Steps To Future-Proofing Your UX

There is no overnight cure for keeping your UX skills relevant. The key is developing lasting habits and mindsets that will develop your skills and keep you flexible.

1. Adopt a future leaning mindset: Having done this for 25 or so years has given me an appreciation for how quickly technology can change. I can't stress enough the need to keep advanced technology on your radar screen, but also developing an understanding for their impact and how they work. It's a common thread for the best folks I know of in UX, HCI, and Human Factors - a borderline obsession with new technology. It's a real temptation to get a narrow focus with our websites, mobile apps, and design standards - after all we have deadlines to meet, right? But don't get so focused that you don't pay attention to what's going on around you.
2. Focus On Experience, Not Output: There is a real temptation in design to get caught up in following design patterns, styleguides, branding guidelines, and technical requirements. Yes these are important, but the real value you should be bringing to the table are your skills in critical thinking, analytic, creative, and especially understanding human behavior - and these are the skills that will transfer over to the new technologies. The tools and technology will change - that's a given. But there will always be a need to perform task analyses, contextual inquiries, user interviews, and interviews to identify critical tasks and pain points. But even more so, knowing how to analyze that data and translate that into a solid user centered design.
3. Avoid The Paradox Of The Present: During the years between WW1 and WW2, army planners were tasked with creating recommendations to prepare for the next war. Their solution? To use trains to get horses to the front lines more quickly. It's a trap to try and think of future technology in terms of how it's being used today - that's the paradox of the present. The key is understanding which future "signals" are important and how they will be interacting with each other.
4. Find some good resources on H2 and H3 technology: Horizon 2 (H2) and Horizon 3 (H3) are terms used by strategic futures researchers to describe which technology will appear in the medium (2-5 years) and more distant (5-12 year) future, respectively. I would recommend finding a news source describing future trends and tech, just to at least keep an eye on them. One of my favorites is New Atlas, which discusses a range of advanced technology from newly released to the more conceptual prototypes. Making the rounds with these types of news sites keeps you in the "forward-leaning mindset".
5. Find opportunities to work with advanced technology (and understand how it works): A lot of this has to do with keeping an open mind and being willing to jump on opportunities that come up. Don't be afraid to step out of your comfort zone! This one might be tough if the folks you work for have the standard e-commerce as their core. Many are conservative & late adopters as they will want to wait until the technology has matured and there is a solid business case. But there might be an R&D department you could get involved with.
6. Take Advantage of the "Radio-To-TV" effect: When television first started, the producers of TV content really didn't know how to best utilize the new medium. Many of the first programs were just re-purposed radio shows in format. Later, producers learned how to fine tune camera angles, lighting, etc., to create content that was optimized for the new medium. I suspect that there will be many transitional periods like this with the new technologies as folks struggle to optimize it for use. Getting in on the ground floor and helping to lead and shape our new tools is an excellent way to learn and transition.

In closing, I think the worst thing you can do is assume that all these capabilities are far in the future, and that you don't have to worry about them now. Adopt a future-leaning mindset, and always look for those opportunities to jump in and grow. The future is always closer than you think it is.

Some Resources

There have been a lot of good articles written about the future of UX that you might be interested in. I would highly encourage you to keep learning and form your own opinions. And please let me know in the comments if you have any other resources or thoughts on this important topic so we can share with everyone.

1. 13 Upcoming UI and UX Trends Every Company Should Prepare For
2. Vaexperience
3. 5 Design Jobs That Won't Exist In The Future - Fast Company: A little old, but a good read. UX design and research are on the chopping block, according to them.
4. UX Design Trends 2022
5. Singularity Hub