In this episode, discover the UX Pathway that Andrew Schall followed, UX Research Manager at ServiceNow

Key Points from Andrew Schall

1. UX is becoming experience design

• Andrew sees UX evolving beyond websites, apps, and individual products.
• He describes the future more as service/experience design, where multiple technologies, people, and touchpoints work together.
• UX professionals can no longer stay in their individual lanes. Designers, researchers, strategists, technology, and business need to work together.

2. AI is changing the profession, not just the tools

• AI is not something UX professionals can ignore.
• Andrew believes the bigger question isn’t “How do I use AI?” but “What will my role become because of AI?”
• Everyone he interviewed for UX Magazine, including Don Norman, agreed that humans will remain at the center of experiences, even though the jobs and methods may change dramatically.

3. Some traditional UX work will disappear

This was probably the strongest and most provocative point of the conversation.

Andrew predicts:

• Fewer people will be needed in UX.
• Designers may no longer spend their time creating Figma prototypes.
• Researchers may no longer conduct many traditional usability tests.
• AI will increasingly handle basic research and generate insights.
• Traditional tools and workflows will become less important.

Instead, UX professionals may become more like a “control tower”, directing and shaping the overall experience rather than personally doing every task.

4. The opportunity is greater autonomy

The change isn’t entirely negative.

Andrew sees AI giving UX professionals more control over the experience. Instead of waiting for developers, researchers, or other specialists to complete pieces of the work, a UX professional may be able to create, test, and shape much more independently.

The tradeoff is that organizations may need fewer people to accomplish the same amount of work.

5. Curiosity is a critical skill

Andrew repeatedly comes back to curiosity.

His approach is to experiment rather than try to master every new technology:

• Try new AI tools.
• Build things.
• See what they can do.
• Understand their strengths and weaknesses.
• Don’t worry about becoming an expert immediately.

He describes himself as someone who likes to dabble, and AI has made that experimentation much more powerful.

6. UX professionals need to experiment with AI now

Andrew’s advice is direct: if you’re not experimenting with AI, you’re going to fall behind.

He specifically mentions tools such as Claude Code and Figma Make and encourages people to actually build things themselves.

For researchers, he suggests experimenting with AI-generated personas and other research applications while understanding the difference between AI-generated outputs and insights based on actual user research.

7. The UX career path needs a Plan B

For people entering or transitioning into UX, Andrew recommends a dual strategy:

Traditional path

• Continue developing UX, research, design, strategy, and related skills.
• Pursue traditional UX roles.

Alternative path

• Think about what else you can offer.
• Identify what you enjoy, what you’re good at, and what you’re willing to do.
• Look beyond jobs that have “UX” in the title.
• Position yourself around the value you can provide, not simply your UX job title.

8. AI experience can become your differentiator

Andrew suggests that candidates should be able to tell stories about what they’ve actually built or accomplished with AI.

Instead of simply saying:

“I’m a UX designer.”

You can demonstrate that you know how to use AI to solve problems, build tools, conduct work, and help an organization figure out how to use AI effectively.

9. AI isn’t a temporary bubble

Andrew doesn’t believe things will simply return to the way they were.

His view is that AI will continue progressing and integrating into the work people do. The implication is that waiting for things to go back to normal isn’t a strategy.

10. AI learning is a team sport

One of my favorite points from the episode:

Don’t hoard what you learn.

Andrew learns through:

• Personal experimentation
• Coworkers
• Team demos
• Sharing experiments
• Seeing what others are building