The Softer Side of UX Consulting

By Baruch Sachs Published: November 23, 2015 “The focus of my presentation was not entirely on the so-called soft skills that are part of consulting. My presentation was really about the challenges around enterprise user experience….” Recently, I gave a presentation to a group of User Experience graduate students. (I had graduated from the same program a dozen years ago.) While I found doing this professionally and personally satisfying, it was also refreshing to look at what has changed in UX education and consider what still needs to change. During the Q&A session after my presentation, a student commented, as follows: “I was really interested in hearing about the soft skills of UX consulting, but to hear you tell the stories of sitting in a room for hours with the business and IT folks and hashing out project issues… well, that just sounds horrifying to me.” Understandably, this statement was met with numerous nods and smiles of agreement. The focus of my presentation was not entirely on the so-called soft skills that are part of consulting. My presentation was really about the challenges around enterprise user experience. It highlighted the path I had taken in an attempt to help others entering the field to understand that this type of consulting exists in the world of User Experience. But, even though my presentation did not focus primarily on the soft side of UX consulting, soft skills are an important part of what any successful consultant must do.

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