Organizations relying on UX Checklists run into trouble. On the surface they are doing a lot of things right; getting feedback from users, hiring people with UX qualifications, iterating and delivering customer journeys, usability test results, and so on. But these teams often fail if they don’t have a deep understanding of the connection between all these items, the necessary leadership experience in UX, and a well-informed and integrated research program. In short, apply a UX framework.

And sadly, sometimes, these organizations abandon UX completely because it didn’t seem to deliver to its potential. And it didn’t because the organization didn’t understand the difference between truly integrate the UX framework and mimicking only some of its elements.

Some additional things to know about UX Checklists vs. UX Frameworks:

• A framework you can adjust on the fly as you learn or constraints change or as an organization matures in its ability to deliver exceptional UX.

• You do some UX work, like usability testing, but it doesn’t mean you’ve done it right. Checking off a procedure is not checking off an accomplishment.

• Working within a UX framework, you always know why you are doing a certain activity and its connection to business and user value.

• If you are new to UX and took something like a two-week course in UX and are applying everything you learned; it’s a start, but at best it’s a checklist level activity.

• A framework is not a UX-only activity; it’s interdisciplinary by nature.

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