UX Pathways – Episode 5 : Keith Instone

Summary of UX Pathways Episode with Keith Instone

This episode features an in-depth conversation with Keith Instone, a seasoned professional in user experience (UX), discussing his career journey, current role, and insights into the evolving UX field.

Current Role and Focus

Keith currently works at an IT consulting company within the innovation lab, acting as a research analyst focused on emerging technologies and trends.
His role involves translating backend IT activities (cloud migration, cybersecurity, server management) into improved user experiences that deliver measurable business results such as increased sales or employee productivity.
His work bridges the technical IT implementations and the end-user impact, emphasizing the business value of UX.

Career Path and Evolution

Keith’s entry into UX began during his computer science studies in the early 1980s, enriched by professors with psychology and sociology backgrounds, fostering an early interest in the human side of technology.
Early projects included building an online encyclopedia for Sherlock Holmes fans, combining computer science with social and cultural understanding.
The invention of the web browser opened new UX opportunities, shifting focus from desktop software to web usability.
He transitioned to consultancy, introducing usability testing for websites at a time when this was novel.
Continuous learning was critical:
- Gained knowledge in library science to manage and organize large websites.
- Developed visual design literacy to collaborate effectively with design teams.
- Learned organizational change management to ensure UX improvements were actionable and aligned across departments.
- Expanded understanding of business language and culture through intensive reading to better communicate with business stakeholders.

Insights on Entering the UX Field

UX is a diverse, multi-disciplinary field without a single defined career path, unlike professions such as medicine.
Keith compares UX to the food industry:
- Some follow formal education (like culinary school).
- Others learn on the job or through passion and informal methods.
- Roles vary from enthusiasts (“foodies”) to specialists (“master chefs”).
Skill levels and roles in UX vary widely:
- Some can specialize in specific tasks such as user interviews.
- More complex and critical domains (e.g., medical device design) require highly trained experts.
Formal education options include degrees in human-computer interaction; however, self-taught practitioners can also succeed.
Many UX professionals respond with “it depends” due to the field’s variability and context-specific nature.

Key Challenges and Realities in UX Work

UX is fundamentally about the subjective feelings users have when interacting with products and services; these experiences are variable and influenced by many external factors.
There is a robust set of methods and processes in UX (e.g., usability testing) proven to improve outcomes.
Organizational dynamics such as management, politics, and interdepartmental collaboration often impact whether UX improvements are implemented.
UX practitioners must navigate these complexities and sometimes face frustrations when great designs don’t see deployment.
Working in different sectors (corporate, non-profit) presents different challenges but similar organizational issues.

Parting Advice for UX Enthusiasts

Understand UX as a multi-faceted concept: emotional experience, scientific methods, organizational dynamics, and a multidisciplinary community.
Accept the ambiguity and complexity of the field.
Focus on continual learning and adaptability.
Appreciate that UX is not a single profession but a spectrum of roles and skills.
Embrace collaboration with diverse professionals to enrich UX practice.

Key Takeaways

UX is both an art and science involving subjective user feelings and objective methodologies.
The field is open and flexible, allowing multiple paths to success.
Organizational challenges are significant and must

Transcript

[Music]

Marc: Welcome to another episode of UX Pathways. I’m joined today by Mr. Keith Instone. Keith, how are you?

Keith: Hi Marc, I’m doing great. Happy Saturday morning!

Marc: Exactly. Thank you for joining—I’m excited to talk with you. You’ve had an illustrious career in user experience. Let’s start with your current role. What do you do now?

Keith’s Current Role

Keith: My current role has shifted a bit. I work for an IT consulting company, and I’m part of our Innovation Lab.

I’m doing research analyst work, similar to Gartner-style analysis—but not quite at their scale—focused on emerging technology and trends, especially those tied to innovative user experiences.

My job is to help translate all of our IT work—cloud migrations, cybersecurity implementations, infrastructure improvements—into better user experiences and better business outcomes.

So when we complete a project, we don’t just say:

“Your servers are up,”
but also,
“Your employee productivity improved,” or
“Your sales went up,” because of the IT work we delivered.

I bridge the backend technology work with front-end human and business results.

Marc: That’s awesome. So let’s go back—everyone has a different journey into user experience. How did you start?

How Keith Got Into UX

Keith: I started in academia.

I was earning my computer science degree in the early ’80s. I was lucky to have professors with psychology and sociology backgrounds. So in addition to learning algorithms, I learned about human behavior.

That led me into early research projects like:

“How would we build an online encyclopedia for Sherlock Holmes fans?”

At the time, that was revolutionary—making something fun, social, and digital.

While my peers were optimizing network algorithms, I was fascinated by:

How people think
How they use technology
How to make applications enjoyable and easy

That pushed me into human factors and user interface design.

Then the web browser was invented, and suddenly millions of people could use these applications from home. That opened the door to a much larger world of design.

From there, with grounding in human factors and this new thing called “the Web,” it was easy to transition into consulting:

Companies hired me to test websites,
Many didn’t even know usability testing was a thing
And the internet was still “the wild west”

They were amazed that we could actually measure whether people could use their sites.

How Keith Kept Adapting Through His Career

Marc: How did you adapt as the field changed over the years?

Keith: Constant learning.

I started in computer science, then had to understand:

1. Popular Culture

For projects like the Sherlock Holmes encyclopedia, I needed to understand fandom and cultural context.

2. Library Science

When the web exploded, websites became huge. Information architecture was suddenly vital. I learned from the Argus Associates crew and dove deep into library science.

3. Visual Design

As design became more sophisticated—beyond plain HTML pages—I had to understand visual literacy. Especially at IBM, where I worked with world-class visual designers. I didn’t have to do the visual design, but I had to speak their language.

4. Organizational Change & Collaboration

This was a major turning point.

As a consultant, I’d run usability tests, find issues, but nothing would change because:

There was no budget
Teams didn’t collaborate
Marketing and IT didn’t talk to each other

I realized that UX cannot succeed unless the organization itself changes.

So I learned about:

Change management
Organizational behavior
Business strategy

There were periods when I binge-read six business books in six months just to communicate effectively with executives.

And that cycle repeated many times—every 5–10 years, I added another major skill to stay effective.

Advice for Getting Into UX

Marc: So with all that experience, how do people get into UX today? What advice would you give?

Keith: First, we need to clarify something:

UX is not one single “field”—it’s more like an ecosystem.

So let’s use a metaphor.

UX Is Like the Food Industry

In food, there are many ways in:

You can go to culinary school and become a classically trained master chef
You can learn from your Italian grandmother and cook amazing meals
You can be a foodie—knowledgeable but not a cook
You can be a sous chef—trained in one specialty
Or you can run a restaurant, requiring management skills beyond cooking

Same with UX:

There is no single path
Many levels of expertise exist
Some people specialize deeply
Some work broadly
Some consult
Some embed in large organizations

**There are tried-and-true paths:**

HCI degrees
UX master’s programs (like Kent State)
Human factors programs

But you can also be completely self-taught

And still become a great UX professional.

Match the skill level to the environment

A junior can conduct structured user interviews
But you wouldn’t let them design a medical device that could kill someone
Complex systems require master-level practitioners

It all depends.

Marc: And that’s why UXers often say, “It depends.”

Keith: Exactly. There are so many variables.

Final Thoughts for UX Enthusiasts

Marc: Any final words for UX enthusiasts?

Keith: Yes—four key ideas.

1. User experience is the feeling people have when using a product.

There is no single “user experience.”
There are millions because people bring their own:

Moods
Contexts
Frustrations
Goals

You can’t control all of that.

2. We have proven methods and tools.

If your job is to deliver good experiences, there are established practices—like usability testing—that reliably improve outcomes.

3. Organizations introduce constraints.

You might be the best designer in the world, but:

Politics
Silos
Budgets
Timelines

…can prevent your design from ever launching.

That’s normal.
It exists everywhere—from corporations to nonprofits.

4. UX is multi-disciplinary.

UX is science, research, design, psychology, business, change management, communication—it’s all of it.

There are few gatekeepers.
No licensing board.
People come from:

Computer science
English
Marketing
Psychology
Art
And dozens of other fields

That’s a feature, not a bug.
Diverse teams make better experiences.

Marc: Keith, it was a pleasure hearing your perspective on this field. Thank you so much for joining the podcast.

Keith: Thanks, Marc. See you later.