Summary
As designers we want to reach people’s experiences, make their lives better, and ultimately contribute to a better condition of humanity and our planet. But something is getting in our way. Instead of delivering breakthrough experiences we are relegated to feeding bits into downstream implementation and operations. The enterprises we work for make us chase arbitrary, short sighted goals, and chase after the next release. Meanwhile, the key business decisions that determine the outcomes of our efforts have already been made. Enterprises are made of individuals forming great teams, applying a diverse set of skills, knowledge and experiences to ambitious projects. In order to bring this enormous potential to fruition, we need one thing: a shared understanding, appreciating each other’s viewpoints and backgrounds, tracing and translating decisions for greater impact on the whole. Milan will introduce you to EDGY – a language designed to achieve just that, relying on your core skills as experience designers and information architects: understanding enterprises as systems embedded in a wider ecosystem and navigating their multifaceted nature. You’ll take away an approach for co-creating their future working with elements, dynamics and dependencies, and radically increase your impact on the outcomes they produce for people.
Key Insights
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Enterprises create outcomes they are perfectly designed for, meaning poor UX often stems from systemic design flaws, not just interface problems.
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'Edgy' is a shared language combining multiple enterprise perspectives—identity, architecture, and experience—allowing diverse roles to collaborate consistently.
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UX failures frequently arise because key enterprise capabilities and operations lie outside the digital brief, limiting influence for UX designers.
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Embedding purpose strongly within enterprise design helps clarify what 'better' means beyond vague goals like profitability or growth.
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Mapping enterprise elements as people pursuing outcomes, doing activities, and using objects simplifies complexity into understandable base elements.
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Using models like service blueprints in the 'edgy' language creates cross-functional conversations linking tasks, products, capabilities, and organizational responsibilities.
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A Rosetta Stone approach bridges the communication gaps between UX designers, strategists, architects, and planners by representing the same enterprise in multiple aligned ways.
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Blaming the system or other departments assumes ill intent, but most failures happen due to siloed views and lack of holistic design collaboration.
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Starting with familiar artifacts like journeys and tasks enables UX professionals to gradually extend their influence into broader enterprise operations and strategies.
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Visual evidence and storytelling of real user struggles can help shift leadership mindsets from quick-fix solutions to addressing underlying complex problems.
Notable Quotes
"The purpose of a system is what it does, so any system can be measured by its outcomes and is perfectly designed for those outcomes."
"Designing the enterprise is about creating the conditions for all the pieces to grow together coherently, much like tending a garden."
"In many digital experiences, the UX designers' brief doesn’t include operational constraints that make or break the user experience."
"We can't design the enterprise alone; we need a shared language that everyone involved understands to co-create better enterprises."
"Blaming other roles or the system assumes they don’t want to succeed, but usually, everyone is trying their best within their scope."
"Edgy is built to express the same enterprise concept through identity, architecture, and experience perspectives, like a Rosetta Stone for enterprises."
"Making a deliberately wrong model is a great way to start discussions and corrections with other stakeholders."
"We see enterprise awkwardness when disengaged employees, operational failures, and poor customer experience all converge in big organizations."
"Better means enterprises that serve a clear purpose, are useful, add value, and reliably deliver on their promises."
"When quick fixes are the focus, making videos that expose real user struggles often helps get buy-in to tackle bigger system problems."
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