When it comes to adding a UX team or department, timing is critical. Find out when it’s too early to hire for UX—and what you need to do instead.
UX has a place in your company; without it, your product or digital experience will flounder. But hiring a UX team too quickly can be like trying to jump from first gear to fourth gear when driving your car: a painful and expensive mistake.
First, let’s get one thing clear: We’re talking about building organizations here, not projects. If you have a project, you definitely need to bring UX and/or CX in at the very start. But when it comes to establishing a consistent CX/UX practice in your company, it’s important to have your company goals, offering(s), and leadership clear before you bring UX to the party.
Why Early UX Hires Can Be a Mistake
During a company’s early stages, its leadership and priorities are also evolving. So while you may know that UX is important, you may not yet know what your UX goals should be or even who will be responsible for them. And without this knowledge, you can’t really lay the groundwork for successful UX.
“But wait”, I hear you cry. “We know we need a great user experience! We can just hire a freelancer or a consultant and they’ll do it for us!” You can, but you run the risk of your project going off the rails because you don’t understand where the rails should go (or how to set them up). So let’s talk about 4 signs that it’s too early for your organization to have a UX team.
4 Signs It’s Not Time To Hire for UX
Red Flag #1: You don’t know where your company/offering is going
If …
- Your company shifts priorities or goals regularly
- You don’t know what long-term success will look like
- Your key product/offering isn’t firm yet
… your company needs more time to define itself before you bring UX onboard. Without a clear idea of who you are, any goals or decisions you make are liable to change quickly—leading to frustration and wasted effort for your UX person or team.
Red Flag #2: You don’t know who will lead UX
If you want to improve the user experience but …
- No one is taking responsibility for UX decisions
- Everyone agrees that UX is valuable, but nothing changes despite repeated talks
- You expect your UX person or team to “just know” what you need and how to do it
- There’s very little preparation for data collection and user feedback
- No one internally is accountable for user experience decisions
… you need to find a UX champion among senior management before you look for UX hires—and this includes hiring freelancers and/or leasing a UX team. Without a UX champion in leadership, any meaningful change is very hard to accomplish. Not only is there no one providing guidance and accountability, there’s also no one driving the adoption of new ideas. And this basically means anything your UXers come up with are just expensive drawings; those changes aren’t going to be implemented any time soon. It’s a net loss for you and exasperating for the UX pros.
Red Flag #3: There’s already a decision-making bottleneck
If you’re eager to bring UX onboard but decision-making already takes a long time, adding UX will only make that problem worse. And from your UXers’ perspective, it will slow down their work. Effective UX depends on clarity; without it; lengthy implementations and delays are a certainty. Bottlenecks are a sign that your organization lacks clarity. So it’s a good idea to sort out your organizational issues and establish your UX point person before bringing another function into the mix.
Red Flag #4: There’s no shared vision between departments
If UX is on your radar but…
- Communication between internal teams is poor
- Data stays siloed within its department of origin
- There are multiple competing priorities—or no firm priorities at all
- Cross-team projects have been difficult in the past or are faltering now
… then it’s time to develop a shared language and set of shared goals for your whole organization. This makes collaboration easier and also smooths the way for projects to move forward. It also encourages data sharing, which is essential to UX success.
What to Do Before Hiring UX
Before adding UX long-term to your company, you need to establish a foundation first—i.e., the rails that any UX initiative is going to run on. At a minimum, this means getting a consensus on the following questions:
- What are we trying to achieve as an organization?
- What needs to change to help us get there?
- What do we expect UX to do for us?
- Who will champion UX within our company?
Ideally, you’ll also be able to divide the big-picture questions of 1 and 2 into smaller projects, and from smaller projects into goals. This will help you avoid those frustrating and expensive red flags.
When Hiring For UX, Timing Is Critical
Remember, UX is like the highest gear of a car’s transmission: you need it to move forward at speed, but you also have to prepare for it. If you jump straight into hiring for UX without understanding its place in your organization, you’re in for a bumpy and potentially expensive ride. And if you leave it too late, you’re never going to keep up with your competitors.On the other hand, if you take care of the foundations of UX, you’re setting up a system that will take care of your company for years. If you need help determining the best way to add UX to your organization—or even deciding whether a freelancer, agency, or full-time UX team is right for you—CX by Design is happy to help. Contact us for a free consultation!
