Key Insights

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  Privatization of Norway’s railways forced MSB to relinquish core IT assets, challenging design teams to deliver digital services without full system control.

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  MSB’s designers initially faced pressure to replicate an old user experience, despite technical backend changes requiring significant redesign.

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  Users often resist change because they trust familiar interfaces, equating stability with reliability rather than prioritizing modern design.

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  Introducing ‘waves’—value-focused releases—helped bridge designers’ need for exploration and developers’ need for speed.

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  Google Design Sprints proved effective for cross-functional alignment and rapid, inclusive ideation despite tight deadlines.

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  Simple, lightweight feedback mechanisms like in-app buttons and Trello boards can generate rich user insights if effectively managed.

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  Opening user feedback channels to the entire product team fosters ownership and encourages developers to solve user problems proactively.

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  Ecological validity in research—testing in realistic user contexts—is critical to understanding the true impact of product changes.

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  Continuous design requires balancing the company’s long-term vision with short-term iterative delivery and frequent learning loops.

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  The key challenge is not integrating design into agile, but enabling designers and developers to collaboratively create excellent user experiences through appropriate processes.

Notable Quotes