UX needs to be a required hard-skill for all working in tech.

TLDR: I believe, UX needs to be a required hard-skill for all working in tech. All of us building products have to learn to empathize with non-techie-people using our products. And just like with any kind of inclusivity issue: we must include the not-so-savvy people in the process of developing and testing products.

Let's take a beat and “touch-grass”. We should take a step back from our perfect setups, close the lid of our high-end laptops, and spend a few minutes reminding ourselves that our computer-skills are far beyond average.

We, the techies, know where to hover with our mouse cursor to make invisible buttons appear in the UIs we’re familiar with. We understand what “that error-message” probably meant. Not only that, but we know how to exit a full-screen application on macOS: with our keyboard! Because the button to click is hidden until you smash your cursor against the upper edge of the screen and keep pushing upwards.

That is not to say the debate about Liquid Glass is superficial. The new UI is a train wreck that is more difficult to use than the one it replaces. But it is also only slightly worse than the low-contrast, small grey text on grey background UI with buttons that only show up while you hover over them that Apple shipped before. And to be fair, let me just mention that every time I have to use Windows, I feel relieved when I return to my Mac.

We, and I mean every one building software, not just designers, need to consider the lives of “normal” people. People who use computers as tools. People who do neither have the time, nor the interest to become IT-professionals. These people are our customers. They buy our products, use our services, and get the headaches we cause through UX- negligence and ignorance. UX needs to be a required hard-skill for all working in tech.

A tech-support story

I chose this story because it combines many of the issues I keep experiencing with different people, all into one. If there was such a thing as perfect anecdotal evidence, this story is it!

A few days ago, I was helping a client set up their email account on their iMac. They are not tech-savvy. I’d consider their ability to use computers slightly below average: Able to turn it on, know what app to use to look at a website, but not know the difference between Apple Mail or Thunderbird. They differentiate between applications based on what they do, not based on the app’s branding. That's fine, they manage.

The first failed attempt

Let’s start at the beginning. Before calling me, they tried to set up their email themselves, but couldn’t, so they decided to ask for help. Good! The messes I’ve cleaned up on some people’s computers in the past, after they tried themselves for too long, were truly astonishing. Knowing my client uses an iMac, I opened iMessage, and sent a connection request to access their screen. That’s when the fun started.

The second failed attempt

On the phone call, I could hear their iMac “ding” to notify them of my request. They tried accepting, but it failed. While this was going on, their iPhone, which we were using to talk, would not stop ringing, asking them to share the iPhone screen. Because the connection failed on Mac, and their phone kept telling them to accept, they did. That’s how I ended up connected via screen-sharing, looking at an iPhone.

The third failed attempt

I took a minute to explain to them what had happened. We agreed that I’d hang up, and send a second request, and so I did. I hung up, sent another request to see their screen, and waited.

While waiting for a screen-sharing connection, macOS shows a dialogue telling you it’s establishing the connection. Before that screen-sharing connection opens, a voice channel starts, and both parties can hear each other.

And after waiting for half a minute, I could hear them, and they could hear me. I still couldn’t see their screen, though. Usually, this limbo-state without visuals only lasts for a few seconds. This time, it remained unchanged for what felt like a minute. Again, I had to inform them that the connection was not working properly, and asked them to describe what they could see on their screen. The answer was as simple as it was confusing: Their Mac was informing them that I could see their screen. We tried once more, this time their iMac didn’t even show the notification. What could we do?

The fourth failed attempt

At this point, I should probably mention that I have a lot of experience using Apple’s screen-sharing feature built into macOS. That’s why I decided to suggest we use a third-party-solution. My client uses Firefox, and told me they’d shared their screen with other people in the past. Great! I quickly opened a Google-Meet and sent them the link via iMessage to join. I expected they’d be able to share their screen there. We hung up, again.

I waited. After a few minutes, I called them on the phone. They explained to me, they had typed in the link to our meeting into their browser, and were looking at search results, but couldn’t find anything to click on to join the meeting. I asked them to type the address again, to make sure there was no reason for Firefox to show them search results instead of the Google-Meet website. Search results, again. This issue is quite common, and I’ve had it many times before with different people.

Then I remembered that another email account was already set up in their email application, and decided to send the meeting link there. That worked, and after clicking the link in the email, they were able to connect. Now, onwards to sharing the screen!

Back to the story: When attempting to share their screen in Google Meet, macOS informed them they had to allow Screen Recording in the System Settings, then close Firefox, and open it again. That confused them, so I explained about the security feature that prevents apps from randomly spying on their screens. While on the Google Meet call, I attempted to talk them through the process, but it wasn’t going well. They couldn’t find the preference, then tried to restart Firefox anyway, ending the Google-Meet call. Needless to say: after re-establishing the call, the screen sharing still did not work.

How we managed in the end

After all this, I decided I’d had enough, and called them using FaceTime. I asked them to flip the camera and point the phone at their iMac, so I could see the screen through the call.

Back to the story: I was now seeing bits of the screen, which was enough to guide them through the process of signing in to iMessage and turning on iCloud Sync for iMessage.

Why this isn’t on by default when you sign in to iCloud, or macOS at least asks you to turn it on, is beyond me!

And why the attempt to share the screen worked at all, without them being signed in, is probably something only Apple can explain.

Having signed in to iMessage on Mac, I was able to instruct them to start a screen-sharing call via iMessage. Offering to share the screen usually works much better than accepting a request. I am not sure why, but it’s been like this for years.

After about an hour, I could finally see and control their screen to help them with the setup of their email client. At this point, we both suffered from a completely avoidable headache.

In conclusion

I believe, UX needs to be a required hard-skill for all working in tech. All of us building products need to learn to empathize with non-techie-people using our products. And just like with any kind of inclusivity issue: we must include the not-so-savvy people in the process of developing and testing products.