CX Is Never Done: Why Your First Draft Should Be Sh*tty
You’ll Never Get It Perfect—That’s the Point
You launched the new chatbot.
Congrats.
Now, brace yourself for the complaints.
"It gave me the wrong answer."
"It sent me in circles."
"It asked me for my name five times."
You fixed a known pain point, made a measurable improvement, and still, the customer isn't happy.
Welcome to the work.
The Real Job of CX? Constant Editing
Customer experience is a living, breathing, never-quite-finished story.
You don’t get to write a final draft.
You only get to improve the next version.
It doesn’t matter how many journey maps you created or how many months you spent prepping your rollout.
Customers don’t experience your intentions.
They experience what you shipped.
And what you shipped was probably a “Shitty First Draft” (SFD).
What Brene Brown Taught Me About CX
The phrase “Shitty First Draft” originally came from author Anne Lamott, who believed all great writing begins with a messy first try.
Brene Brown picked it up in Rising Strong, applying it to how we process hard emotions.
SFDs, she says, are the unfiltered, raw stories we tell ourselves before we've had time to reflect.
They’re rarely accurate, but they’re necessary.
That messy, emotional, unfinished energy? It shows up in CX too.
Let’s talk about what SFDs look like in this work.
In CX, We Live in SFDs Every Day
Every journey map, IVR flow, chatbot script, or new portal is an attempt to improve something.
But our first take rarely sticks the landing.
And that’s okay.
The power is in naming the messiness, getting curious about what’s not working, and rewriting with what we’ve learned.
You’re not shipping perfection.
You’re shipping something worth improving.
Your SFD might be:
A rough idea for reducing contact center volume.
An MVP digital flow with friction baked in.
A redesign based on internal assumptions, not real behavior.
It’s not that you did it wrong.
It’s that it’s never done.
Customers evolve.
Context shifts.
Expectations rise.
That flow you perfected six months ago? It’s already outdated.
Stop Aiming for Perfect. Start Shipping and Iterating.
We get stuck in perfection paralysis.
We overthink.
We wait for consensus.
We polish until it's smooth enough to skate on.
Then we launch.
And boom—real feedback smashes through the pretty facade.
That’s not failure.
That’s progress, finally getting started.
What matters is how fast you iterate, how curious you are about what’s actually happening, and how willing you are to rethink what you were so sure about last week.
The Takeaway: If It Feels Unfinished, You’re Doing It Right
CX isn’t about final products.
It’s about constant iteration.
Feedback is fuel.
Discomfort means you're still stretching.
You don’t need to fear the SFD.
You just need to get better at editing.
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👋 Please Reach Out
I created this newsletter to help customer-obsessed pros like you deliver exceptional experiences and tackle challenges head-on. But honestly? The best part is connecting with awesome, like-minded people—just like you! 😊
Here’s how you can get involved:
Got feedback? Tell me what’s working, what’s not, or what you’d love to see next.
Stuck on something? Whether it’s a CX challenge, strategy question, or team issue, hit me up—I’m here to help.
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Your input keeps this newsletter fresh and valuable. Let’s start a conversation—email me, DM me, or comment anytime. Can’t wait to hear from you!
— Mark
www.marklevy.co
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