26. The Goal of a UX Department is to Disappear

If we believe that the role of UX is cross-functional and covers the entire user lifecycle, we might also admit that the ultimate goal of a UX department is to fully integrate into other areas.

Organizations go through different stages of maturity regarding the adoption of UX practices. There are multiple models that explain this. One of them is the UX Maturity Model. This maturity model proposes five levels of maturity:

• Unintentional
• Self-Referential
• Expert
• Centralized
• Distributed

At the highest level of maturity, Distributed, the practice of UX emerges from centralized teams and the disciplines become omnipresent in the organization. At this level of maturity, UX is part of the organization’s culture.

Therefore, our goal is to mature the UX practice within an organization until it is absorbed by the other areas.