The central problem of modern UX is the same existential crisis architecture had in the 1980s -- whether it's a discipline of artists or scientists.

Nobody wants to admit they're a scientist who follows experimental data at cocktail parties. Everyone dreams of being introduced as a creative genius.

That yearning metastasizes into hubris, which ultimately leads to people making arbitrary changes, just because they can.

Which isn't UX's, or architecture's, fault as a discipline, but is to say that the scientific process runs perpendicularly to our egotistical, flawed selves. And that the only way to avoid it is constant vigilance and pragmatism about what's actually driving a change request.