COMMUNICATE: Discussion
Summary
In this session, several UX professionals including JD and others share insights on navigating communication challenges in complex enterprise environments. They emphasize the importance of gaining stakeholder buy-in early and involving teams collaboratively to foster ownership and alignment, rather than solely relying on research data. JD explains the rigorous approach to measuring UX ROI through multiple metrics like NPS, SUS, and task success rates, while acknowledging the slow and patient nature of transformation. ADP's three-year UX transformation journey highlights the need for perseverance, team cheerleading, and periodic regrouping to maintain momentum. The speakers also explore how UX practitioners can extend their skills to social impact work, noting that opportunities often arise unexpectedly and require proactive outreach, patience, and adapting design thinking to NGO contexts. They suggest strategies like storyboarding ideal experiences to keep teams motivated and celebrate small wins to sustain resilience. The conversation closes with reflections on lessons learned, such as the value of patience, continuous improvement, personalized communication to stakeholders, and balancing passion with digestible messaging.
Key Insights
-
•
Gaining stakeholder buy-in upfront is essential to prevent research being ignored.
-
•
Collaborative involvement increases team ownership and reduces resistance.
-
•
Successful communication is about ongoing engagement, not just presenting static artifacts.
-
•
Enterprise UX transformations require patience and fortitude, often taking years.
-
•
Mapping both current and ideal user journeys supports motivation and clarity.
-
•
Measuring UX ROI involves multiple quantitative metrics and statistical significance over time.
-
•
UX skillsets provide immediate value in social impact settings, unlike some technical roles.
-
•
Social impact opportunities often come through personal initiative and serendipity.
-
•
Sustaining energy in long projects can be supported by revisiting original goals and sharing wins.
-
•
Effective UX communication requires tailoring language to stakeholders’ values and metrics.
Notable Quotes
"How can I know what I think until I see what I say? EM Forster."
"Ignore the research: it’s ultimately a business decision."
"It’s not about the map, it’s about the mapping."
"People tend to be less critical of something they have ownership of."
"You have to keep the fight, keep looking back at where you started."
"Create a storyboard or journey map of the ideal experience and use that as inspiration."
"UX skillsets let us add value from day one in social impact contexts."
"It takes patience—brick by brick—to move things forward in large organizations."
"Sometimes you have to give permission to yourself and your team to try something different."
"Fight to communicate your passion in a way that is digestible for other people."
Or choose a question:
More Videos
"Everyone is circling around similar topics but in very different ways—there’s a battle of models but more similarities than differences."
John CutlerOxbows, Rivers, and Estuaries: How to navigate the currents of change (without burning out)
December 3, 2024
"Reviewing decisions out loud held everyone accountable and made it harder for Jeff to forget or change his mind."
Darian DavisLessons from a Toxic Work Relationship
January 8, 2024
"One of the biggest challenges is balancing freedom for creative work with necessary consistency and governance, as Dave Kronin pointed out."
Dave GrayGroup Activity: Making Sense of DesignOps
November 7, 2017
"You wanna capture all the mess, but you cannot operate in the mess. Leave a path back to the mess so details and signals remain available."
John CutlerThe Alignment Trap
November 29, 2023
"Providing alternative content is often a kinder gesture than any lengthy alternative text could be."
Abby CovertStuck? Diagrams Help
October 27, 2022
"Assume positive intent from their point of view — they’re trying to have a good day, not work against you."
Mark InterranteCollaboration Flows in Product Development
June 9, 2017
"If I do a project today on 2025, you’re not going to be in that chair in 2025 and neither am I."
Devon PowersImagining Better Futures
March 9, 2022
"Researchers want designers to help them with the research because there aren’t enough researchers in the world."
Prayag NarulaHow to Empower Your Designers to Do Good Research – And Why You Want To
June 10, 2022
"You can’t just be a designer adapting UX workflows assuming everybody else’s workflow stays the same; everything is changing with AI."
Peter Van DijckHands on AI #3: Claude Code for UX people
October 22, 2025
