Not all conversation designers
An ode to 3 years of conversation design
If I had a dollar for every time someone told me, “conversation design? that’s such a new field!” I could probably quit my day job and retire on that money alone. Though to be fair, conversation design is as much an old role as it is a new one. Schrödinger’s job. Is it new or old? It’s equally both. Let’s peek into why that is.
No two conversation design roles are the same. By extension, no two conversation designers in the industry do the same kind of work. If you gathered up all of the conversation designers in the world, threw them into a box, shook said box and mixed everyone up— I swear to you, no matter how many different pairs you draw from the box, they would not be the same type of conversation designer.
What makes them different? This is an incomplete list, but the role can differ in terms of:
- Job title (there’s: conversation designer, conversational UX designer, conversational AI designer, content designer, UX designer [Amazon] — to name a few)
- Job family (is this role nested under Customer Success? Product design? something else? the possibilities are truly endless)
- Reporting line (how might we… give a designer a non-design manager?)
- Leveling (can a conversation designer be a design lead? it depends)
- Scope (how technical is the CxD role? does a CxD also contribute to the NLU or Gen AI model? it depends)
- Tools of the trade (nbd just proprietary software ruining everyone’s life)
- Business vertical (so many different niches, including but not limited to: finance, health, retail, travel, etc.)
- Team size (there’s the solo conversation designer, conversation designer in an agency-like team structure, or conversation design team at a MNC, hardly anything else)
- Education & background (still waiting for the results of the CxD background poll to be published but TL;DR we come from everywhere)
- Interface (the big chat vs. voice divide, wherein there’s less opportunities to get into voice unless you work on IVRs)
- Process (some CxDs do not get the opportunity to work through all stages of the UX design process, or they might be required to do everything solo, e.g. doing their own UXR)
Why does this matter? Without standardization of the role, we continue to “rebuild” the conversation design role every time there’s a technology shift. This has already happened— when the field moved from IVRs to voice assistants to 3rd party voice apps to LLM-based experiences (and likewise on the chat side). Each time the field adopts a new interface, device, or tech stack, we create a “new” kind of conversation designer. This not only makes it hard for newcomers to know what to expect from the role, it also makes it harder for existing designers to grow in their career, since most changes are horizontal (forcing designers to hit career plateaus).
Why should companies care? Lack of standardization leads to higher turnover. I cannot count the number of times I’ve seen conversation designers leave their first CxD role after a year (especially pre-layoffs). I’ve already talked about how 1 year as a conversation designer automatically grants you seniority in this space. This is not actually a positive thing.
Few companies offer enough resources to keep conversation designers and nurture their career growth. The reality is: when conversation designers face a (job) existential crisis, they leave their team as soon as possible. When a CxD leaves suddenly, companies lose historical context or domain expertise, as well as lose the chance to create a CxD KT process. In the long term, this creates longer ramp up times for their replacements, which ultimately costs the company a lot in terms of efficiency.
Additionally, this constant moving around in search of career nirvana also induces many conversation designers to want to quit the field altogether. We’re losing our conversation design leaders, one by one. At an industry-wide scale, this means: fewer senior designers are shopping for new CxD roles, companies that desperately need to fill the gap left by design turnover are increasing the expected years of experience or preferred qualifications for new hires, which, in turn, is causing junior or entry-level conversation designers to face harder obstacles to break into the field.
We don’t want that.
We need a healthy conversation design ecosystem. We want our experts to shape design direction. We want junior designers to breathe back life into teams with their fresh ideas and optimism. We need to create the “mid” conversation design level to mentor newer designers and to become the conversation design leaders of tomorrow. Right now, the conversation design discipline feels too much gatekeep and not enough girlboss✨
Okay, where is Elaine going with all this? I know this blog is a different format than what I usually write. I’ve been writing a reflection piece for each of my big CxD milestones at the 6-month mark, 1 year, and 2 years, but this time when I sat down to write my 3-year retrospective, I couldn’t find the words. I didn’t have it in me to write another semi-inspirational, “this is why I love conversation design” post.
I’ve been working in voice tech for the past 4+ years and officially been working as a conversation designer for the past 3. This anniversary feels different. Bear with me because I know how crazy this sounds as someone who is incredibly privileged to be working in big tech on an amazing product with all the fancy benefits, but this is the first time as a designer that I feel stuck.
I don’t know what to aim for anymore. I don’t know what growth looks like as a “senior” conversation designer because, if we’re being honest, I don’t even feel like a senior designer. In terms of my work, I feel content and I adore my team! There’s so many talented people around me that it feels like I never want to leave. However, the question I keep asking myself is: do I want to continue to work side-by-side with my teammates… as a conversation designer? What more does conversation design have to offer me? I simply don’t know.
In the beginning, when I’d see past mentees or senior designers I knew move away from conversation design, I’d feel disappointed, betrayed almost. Conversation design needs designers more than ever, I’d think. Now that I made it to the 3-year mark, having survived 2 rounds of layoffs on my team, with an increasingly saturated CxD job market, and rumors that our role is becoming less important, I’m worried for my future. I kind of get it now. Enthusiasm fades, and when it fades, what keeps a designer going is: career support. I honestly feel as though I’d have more people cheering me on if I were to transition out of CxD, which kind of kills me to write.
Now, the problem with a career change at this point is that lateral moves are near impossible for CxDs. Say I wanted to shift from CxD to product design: I’d have to take a few steps back and start over a bit, in order to compensate for the fact that I don’t come from a design background. Soft skills are easy to take with you anywhere, but the technical skills of a CxD are hard to translate into a senior equivalent in other design roles.
What’s next?
I’m sorry if anyone takes away from this that somehow CxD is a hostile career path — it truly isn’t. It may be hard to find jobs in CxD this year, but the people here are wonderful. I’ve met absolute gems while working in this field, many of which have been my cheerleaders or sponsors. I’ve made so many friends due to our mutual love of conversation design. I love the challenges of the work!!! That part of it never gets old.
Not all conversation designers feel unsupported. Not all conversation designers want to transition out of conversation design. This is just me, once again, throwing my thoughts into the world, hoping that after I make the first move and admit my feelings, we can figure out a solution together.
Maybe I just need to carve out my own path. Truthfully, I don’t know what’s next for me. I have a lot of options to consider, so I’m taking things one day at a time 💜 If you live for the drama and want to stay updated with my career crisis fun-time, definitely consider following me on IG.
To companies, why hire CxDs?
When it comes to conversational interfaces (VUIs or chatbots): it’s always a good idea to bring on a subject matter expert — these being conversation designers. At heart, we are interaction designers, the kind that love figuring out which dynamics work well in a conversation and which don’t. Our greatest passion lies in bringing engaging and useful conversations to life. We know very well our technology is expensive and the societal ramifications of our designs are extensive. We are cautious in which use cases to support. More than anyone, conversation designers will be the first to bet against creating low value experiences. We don’t like wasting anyone’s time or money.
Conversation designers also recognize that humans are multimodal creatures and rely on many different forms of communication beyond the written or spoken word. We know research has shown that people treat computers as social beings when machines show even the slightest hint of humanness and we love navigating this special area of human-computer interaction. We’re keen observers of language use and understand that fussing around in language matters by default means delving into cultural issues and integrity topics. You can trust us to know when to err on the side of caution.
While many other designers are trying to level up and get into “AI design”, we are already AI designers who understand the unique balance between what our tech stack can do and what it should do.
To my fellow conversation designers
I want to thank everyone who is still out there fighting the good fight and finding new ways to do conversation design. Our industry needs you and depends on you to keep thriving.
Please let me know if there’s any way I can support you on your conversation design journey. (Even though I might be spiraling) I will always try to find time to keep someone else inspired to pursue CxD.
In the meantime, I’ll leave y’all with this quote:
“Appreciate who you are in this moment. You will never be this version of yourself ever again. Don’t ignore this season of your life simply because you’re waiting for the next one to come.”
