Thanks for the quick reply @Ashleigh1 

At least I know I haven't imagined it.

The question Why? still stands though.

Why would they do this?

Why would they intentionally make the product more difficult to use?

This isn't just a rant.  As someone who's been using QB Desktop & Online for 25 years I am genuinely concerned about the direction of travel.

Instead of focussing on improving the functionality of the product, there seems to be too much tinkering around the edges & actively making the UI/UX worse.

(the hideous new side menu that doesn't show Suppliers by default leaps to mind as a recent example) 

You are on these forums day-in, day-out trying to help customers fix problems with QBO.  On the other side of your company are people that seem to be actively trying to create problems & I don't understand why.