Helping Them Help Us
Summary
In this talk, Michele Wong will discuss the successes and impediments experienced working with UX vendors and share techniques that have worked for her in-house team. Having productive outcomes when working with external design teams requires a unique mindset accompanied by defined methodologies. She will talk about what has allowed her and her team to deliver really good work for their Tax stakeholders without losing focus on some key components that matter when building enterprise apps—brand consistency, quality and speed. She will share how they have helped vendors help them accelerate the delivery of consistent and excellent work.
Key Insights
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Onboarding external designers in complex enterprise settings requires firm-specific resources and an industry-centric acronym cheat sheet to reduce initial overwhelm.
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An effective onboarding kit acts as a 'Tax 101' for designers to bridge knowledge gaps before they start working.
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Discovery activities often face internal resistance due to time constraints, which can be mitigated by offering short, familiar workshop formats.
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Providing facilitation guides and how-to videos with discovery methods reduces the learning curve for external designers and stakeholders alike.
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A unified, brand-approved design system is essential to avoid duplication, inconsistency, and wasted effort when multiple design teams collaborate.
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Early and continuous engagement with the brand team prevents costly reworks caused by brand misalignment.
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Toolkits designed in proprietary design software can hinder adoption and personalization; universal, easily editable formats increase flexibility.
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A shift from an 'us vs them' mindset to an 'us and them' approach between internal and external designers is crucial for toolkit success.
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Toolkits should be treated as living projects with defined update processes and sponsorship to maintain relevance and user trust.
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The three kits together—onboarding, discovery, and design—improve overall workflow velocity, quality, and shared vision across teams.
Notable Quotes
"External vendors are overwhelmed with tax technical documents, emails, calendar invites, and tasks before even starting."
"Salt actually stands for state and local taxes, and MSG stands for multiple service groups in the tax world."
"Discovery workshops are seen as time-consuming and costly, causing resistance from internal stakeholders."
"With the discovery kit, internal and external designers can dance in unison by speaking the same language."
"Without a design system, designers recreate and reinterpret their own versions of the brand, causing inconsistent UI across applications."
"Always engage with the brand team on day one to avoid awkward and confrontational approval processes later."
"Design toolkits created in design software requiring special licenses slow down personalization and adoption."
"Their success is our success, especially when you treat external designers as part of the team."
"Don’t expect perfection with the toolkits on day one; iterative feedback and time will flesh them out."
"Manage the toolkit as a project—have a backlog, prioritize changes, and dedicate sprints to keep it updated."
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