UX teams operate with specific logic and processes, where every action has meaning and value. I’ve structured our work into lean process modules that are easy to combine, measure, and optimize. This approach simplifies explaining our work to the organization, increasing awareness and support for the UX team’s craft and dedication. We use process maps, project plans, dependency charts, ROI estimations, and various metrics to translate creative work into business value. However, this focus on measurement comes with an unintended consequence: a fear within the UX team of being evaluated solely on hourly output, potentially stifling their creative freedom.
Pixar Animation Studios exemplifies the balance between creativity and business value. Their emotionally complex and imaginative animated features stem from a unique organizational culture and production process. In “Creativity, Inc.,” Ed Catmull details their approach to incorporating playfulness into daily work, as demonstrated by film director Pete Docter. Docter, having worked on nearly all of Pixar’s films, has navigated the complexities of nurturing creativity within a public corporation that must generate stockholder revenue.
At Pixar, every idea undergoes multiple iterations and complete rewrites. The team builds compelling stories through continuous discovery – a process of constant change and emotional turmoil. This pre-production chaos, while accepted as necessary, can be frightening and demanding for the team. The key to success lies in encouraging play, experimentation, and temporary suspension of reality.
If people anticipate the production pressures, they’ll close the door to new ideas — so you have to pretend you’re not actually going to do anything, we’re just talking, just playing around. Then if you hit upon some new idea that clearly works, people are excited about it and are happier to act on the change. 1
My communication with the organization has been effective, creating awareness of our work and process, and securing resources and time for valuable actions. Still, the UX team’s perception of being constantly measured still inhibits their willingness to take creative risks and walk on the wild side.
New team members are onboarded with the understanding that innovation is encouraged, but longer-serving members perpetuate the fear of measurement.
The limitation comes from within, reminiscent of the self-help book story about five monkeys, a ladder, a banana, and a water spray. This experiment illustrates how learned behaviors persist in a group, even when the original reason no longer exists. In our UX team context, the fear of being measured lingers, despite it no longer being necessary or beneficial.
This fear often manifests in team members choosing ‘safe’ design options over novel ones. A designer might stick to familiar patterns instead of proposing a experimental interaction method that could significantly improve user experience but might be harder to quantify in immediate metrics. And would take more time to complete.
To lead the team towards a state of play and experimentation, we must embrace uncertainty and accept the perceived risk of wasted effort. Robert Cialdini’s “Influence” describes how socially accepted behaviors are modeled. While hierarchies matter, behaviors modeled by peers and coworkers are more influential than those of managers. To create cultural change, I need to orchestrate positive experiences with several team members, triggering social proof among peers as a new norm.
At Pixar, leadership actively encourages the team to explore and play. They’ve cultivated an environment where the team can act unconventionally, take risks, and explore novel ideas together. With ample time, space, budget, and leadership support, Pete guides the team towards creating mesmerizing movies for all ages by skillfully navigating their fear of change and loss of control.
I must explicitly demonstrate my support for experimentation and play to every team member. Some have perceived my focus on communicating the UX team’s business value as threatening due to historical experiences. By modeling successful examples with a few team members, I aim to inspire a shift in perception across the entire team.
Thank you, Annemarie Steen, for inspiring and encouraging us to step into the state of play to experiment with alternatives.
Catmull, E. (2023). Creativity, Inc: Overcoming the unseen forces that stand in the way of true inspiration (The expanded edition). Random House. ↩︎
