Nobody wants to use any software

Behind my desk, in a frame, there's a pink sticker. If you're ever on a video call with me, and you squint, you will see it on the shelf just below where I also have a beautiful, handmade replica of a late Neolithic Irish food vessel. On the sticker is a rainbow, and it says, "It's just f*cking computers." You can't read it from that distance, but now you'll know what it says.

I made the sticker 5 or 6 years ago because I was working on a project where a perfectly nice but overconfident CEO had decided to project manage a thing himself, and if you're at all experienced, you'll know that way only leads to chaos and despair, which is exactly where we went.

I did my best with what I had power to affect, and I gave what I thought was my most productive advice, along with what I hoped was a solid set of deliverables. And they built a thing that was, to be frank, a huge turd. And they were happy with it. I found it hard to process: rather than actually use the hard work and deep thought I'd put into research, design, and craft, they took pieces of it and squished it into a turdy mess, and felt fine about it. I learned a lot on that project. They paid me on time, and they were incredibly nice. But I still felt sad that they hadn't wanted my best work, not even the pretty OK work I had done for them.

Around that time, I came across one of those "how do you explain your UX job to your mom?" social media posts that always make me lose my temper, especially as a mom-type who is perfectly capable of understanding a wide range of job descriptions, even though I am only really interested in the details if you're something like a professional falconer (they exist!) or you work in the sewer or on a ship.

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