Ive been called a toolsmith before, but I fear that label misses the mark. I do what I consider to be the barest minimum of user studies (approximately what I don’t think my boss will notice) and I don’t observe others putting half as much effort or empathy into it as I do.
I don’t know if I’m crazy or living in the future, but it’s definitely frustrating and a little alienating.
I have worked in an early web dev team that sort of worked like that at BT I was the backup/toolsmith.