Summary
Designers are known for their ability to make connections—to take in a wide variety of diverse data points and find meaning through patterns and associations. As designers in enterprise, we can use this ability to be more effective partners and leaders. In his journey with design at ExxonMobil, Nick Cochran has thrived on finding and making these organizational connections. This talk will highlight how he has used this ability, featuring examples of connections made and some he wished were made sooner. He will also share some practical methods to collect these data points so that more valuable connections can be made.
Key Insights
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A single connection at 14 can have life-changing impacts on education, career, and personal life.
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Enterprise workplaces often suffer from silos and initiative overload, causing confusion and inefficiency.
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Design excels at sense-making—organizing complexity and finding clarity within chaos.
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ExxonMobil grew its design practice from 3 designers in 2014 to over 100 in just a few years through strategic connection-making.
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Internal transitions, like that of Vin moving from developer to UX lead, bring valuable domain experience into design teams.
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Design systems like ExxonMobil’s Unity create cross-team connections and accelerate the design and development process.
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Treating every conversation as an opportunity to learn and connect can uncover surprising insights and opportunities.
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Exploring beyond one’s silo through internal communities and leadership communication broadens perspective and drives collaboration.
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Sharing ideas with context maximizes their value and helps others to apply insights effectively.
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Leaders play a critical role by investing in connection spaces, encouraging curiosity, and spotlighting their teams.
Notable Quotes
"A connection that I made when I was 14 years old helped me to fund my college education, find my wife, and get the job at ExxonMobil that I still have today."
"Working in enterprise can feel like chaos with unclear directions and too much noise from new initiatives every six months."
"Design is a way of organizing complexity or finding clarity in chaos."
"Sense-making is a motivated, continuous effort to understand connections and act effectively."
"Every time somebody purchased a domain name, I earned a commission. Over three to four years, I earned over $100,000 as a high school student."
"We created our design system called Unity to help scale great app experiences and connect developers and designers."
"Treat every conversation as an opportunity to learn and to make connections."
"Inviting people from other disciplines to experience user research helped Felipe see why user experience matters."
"Sharing with context can really help others to make those connections as well."
"As leaders, don’t make it about you—put the spotlight on the people doing great work."
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