Time and resources can then be saved and wherever possible, used on more impactful projects or features. This works both on a project by project basis, as well as in a larger operational context, too.

Well aren’t we all that way? It sounds obvious, but there are levels to it. Simply veto-ing an old feature that everyone internally hates, isn’t tough because it isn’t controversial. Very little justification will be needed if your most empowered stakeholders already agree with the idea. What’s tougher, is challenging well-intentioned ideas that have come from well-intentioned management, critical stakeholders who are funding the project, colleagues who really need a “win” this week because of circumstances unseen and assuming the risk associated with sticking your head above the parapet to ask whether we really definitely need that new feature that our competitors are implementing, (even though we didn’t think it was a good idea until they did).

This is where the simple narrative of the righteous design team with one united mission to save the world, gets a bit sticky. Within the field of UX, there are many schools of thought on what should drive decisions, but the most consistent is the needs of the user. But without conversion there’s usually no profit, without profit there’s no team, without a team there’s no product and then there’s no user to advocate for at all. So, how do we advocate for intentional design practices if we admit that the intention isn’t always as crystal clear as many would pretend on linkedin?

That means when a team member brings up the huge carbon cost of the less-than-necessary new 4k video content your projects rarely-visited ‘Meet the team’ page, they feel safe to do so. Equally, when someone advocates for the importance of a research phase activity to check whether ot not the site needs to track every click a user makes, and have one hundred pages, it needs to be heard over the universal urge to avoid delivering any news to stakeholders that doesn’t sounds like “we’ve finished, and every single thing you asked for is a great idea - and included!”.

It’s harder than it looks, and it means trial, error and honest conversations about what matters, and what might need to be sacrificed in the short term for the good of the long-term. It means being brave, occasionally causing a very awkward silence in a meeting and constantly learning to create a toolbox of ways to communicate the importance of asking questions, and giving honest answers. There’s no destination, and it will be an on-going and ever changing quest, but it’s no good giving a sh*t (our third and final Yoyo value¹) about the environment, sustainability, users or, great design, and not being able to speak it into reality.