A UX strategist is supposed to bridge business goals and user needs through high-level planning. They’re meant to answer questions like “Should we build this?” and “Which problems matter most?” before anyone opens Figma.
In practice, most I’ve worked with excel at one thing: not committing to answers.
“Should we prioritize mobile or desktop?”
“It depends on your user base.”
“Which feature should we ship first?”
“It depends on your business goals.”
“When should we launch?”
“It depends on market conditions.”
Every answer buys them more time to conduct another research phase, run another workshop, build another framework. They become professional question-deflectors who get paid to suggest you need more information before making any decision.
And here’s the thing – they’re not wrong. Everything in product development genuinely does depend on context. But when “it depends” becomes the primary output of someone earning $120-180 per hour, you’re not getting strategy. You’re getting expensive procrastination.
