In the olden days, when people were designing shovels and picks and then wagons and trucks, are we to believe they were debating the “user experience” when designing how the thing should work? The screw is thousands of years old, and by all estimates it turns the way it does because most people are right-handed and the supination of the arm makes it easier to drive a screw clockwise. That’s usability. NOT “user” interface. NOT “user” experience. Usability.

There is no need to call people “users” or “customers” or whatever. Why be so confining? So demeaning. They are people. Capable of anything. Meanwhile, the term “user” has become synonymous with the designer’s role — their job title, what they call what they do, the name of their books and conferences, the #UI or #UX hashtag which drives their traffic. Perhaps the designer is the “user” and should leave everyone else out of this?

What is the usability of “user experience”? Could it be all that great if it’s still a matter of such debate?

Maybe we should make the effort to speak of what we do without painting ourselves into the easy corner of saying it’s “user” this or that. After being said so often, “user” has lost all meaning. It only requires a simple rephrasing to put the emphasis back on making a smarter whatever. This changes the perspective in a good way. The “user” becomes a given, not the crutch (which, BTW, could use better usability).