Do you know the feeling of not being innovative enough at work, lacking creative thinking, and questioning your own work? Every now and then I am experiencing this feeling.

Product Development is a rapidly evolving landscape. Because of that, the quest for innovation can often feel like an uphill battle. No matter if you are developing or designing apps, software, or any other digital product, the challenge of staying ahead of the curve and continuously innovate is indeed a formidable task. At some point, the inherent difficulty in achieving innovation in this domain can even become frustrating, demoralizing, or leaving us questioning our work. I have dealt with the latter multiple times. The struggle becomes even more painful, once we realize that the feeling of not being innovative enough and not thinking creatively enough may not be solely dependent on our personal capabilities.

The breakneck pace at which technology evolves, the growing competition in the digital product market, and the fact that as products evolve and innovate new benchmarks and standards get set, and even more can all contribute to the complex interplay of factors for the feeling of not being innovative enough.

When building a product in the digital realm, we get faced with cutting-edge technologies, just to realize that they are suddenly obsolete the next day (I am obviously cynical here). However, if we take a closer look at the evolution of mobile app design, we realize that what was innovative in 2020 became standard by 2021, and by 2022 we were already shifting towards glassmorphism and 3D elements. There is a constant evolution going on, which means that today's breakthrough feature could be tomorrow's basic expectation. Another example would be UI elements and design patterns like sidebars or drawers. What once was highly innovative, as early versions of Mac OS X's Aqua UI supported a sidebar concept called drawers, quickly got adopted by third-party apps, until almost every single desktop app featured a sidebar as the main navigational element. What we can observe now is that an increasing number of apps that heavily-relied on sidebars or drawers either removed them, or display an optional sidebar.

There is a certain constant pressure to adapt to new trends, technologies, and user expectations. I probably do not have to tell you how overwhelming that combination can become. Especially when it comes to design, I found myself in the situation of spending hours on a specific UI, polishing it, looking at all the details, and being super happy and satisfied with it, just to browse a couple of feeds the next day and seeing hundreds of post of beautiful and shiny UI. When imposter syndrome hits, it hits incredibly hard. In the realm of product development, imposter syndrome has a unique flavor. It is not just about questioning our abilities, but constantly comparing your creative output to an ever-moving target. The field of design is ever-moving. Design trends are ever-moving. When you spent weeks perfecting a beautifully crafted UI and it suddenly feels outdated because of a new design trend that pops up on social media, it is not just professional disappointment, but rather a deeply personal experience.

At that point, you are not only facing the challenge whether you have the technical competence (figuring out how to design a specific button, menu, or any other UI component is not hard and everyone has access to the resources for it), but you have to ask yourself "Am I innovative enough to keep up?". This is where imposter syndrome hits. This is where I am questioning my work.

However, I did realize something: there is a constant stream of perfect designs and revolutionary features on social media. That constant stream creates a distorted reality. What you usually see there is the final polished product, but we do not see the countless iterations, failed attempts, and the learned experiences that led to it. The hundreds of beautiful and shiny UIs you see on your feed represent thousands of designers' best work, not their daily output. You can not compare your behind-the-scenes footage to everyone else's highlight reel. Dribbble is full of shiny UIs which are just that, shiny. Social Media is full of folks showcasing designs and products no one is using. And do not get me wrong, that is totally legitimate, and a great way to create an audience. However, as a spectator of those things, it is important to not get blinded by the surface.

To prevent that, the goal might be to be consistently effective, rather than constantly innovative. When we speak about innovating, it does not always mean creating something entirely new. In some cases, it means implementing existing solutions in smarter, more useful ways.

As long as we focus on solving real user problems, we are not only innovative, but also effective.