Summary
The speaker, recently appointed VP of Experience Design at Autodesk, reflects on his first year driving a cultural and strategic transformation in the 33-year-old company. Recognizing the urgent need for traditional companies like Autodesk to evolve, he framed the transition from shipping powerful but complicated software products to delivering seamless, lovable customer experiences. He emphasizes that leadership readiness and a trust-filled environment were critical conditions for change. Early on, he approached the challenge as a design problem, traveling globally to listen to employees and identify common obstacles such as power imbalances on product teams, siloed communication, limited customer access, and an overwhelming focus on quantity of features over quality. To overcome these, he implemented a federated model to connect dispersed design teams, launched initiatives to build community and democratize human-centered design with programs like Luma, and hosted a large internal experience design conference to raise design visibility. He advocated banning the term user to foster empathy and focused on amplifying pockets of customer research excellence through initiatives like volunteer customer call days and customer co-creation sessions. Addressing product inconsistency from Autodesk’s history of acquisitions, he led a global hackathon to crowdsource a unified visual design language and formed cross-company Tiger teams to tackle critical experience problems. Finally, he promoted redefining quality from Minimum Viable Product to Minimum Lovable Experience, emphasizing value, ease of use, and craft. Ending with a progress review from a junior designer, Shalom, he expresses motivation fueled by increased connection and inspiration across teams. His journey highlights the multifaceted approach needed for enterprise digital transformation through design leadership.
Key Insights
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Change in large organizations requires leadership readiness and is a team sport, not an individual effort.
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Treating organizational transformation as a design problem encourages immersive listening and data synthesis.
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Enterprise design teams often suffer from power imbalances and fragmentation, especially marginalizing designers.
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Organizational silos are one of the biggest killers of collaboration and innovation.
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Adopting a federated design model keeps designers embedded in product teams while creating connective tissue across the company.
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Democratizing human-centered design methods empowers non-designers to participate in the design process.
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Changing language, such as banning the word 'user,' helps humanize customers and improve empathy.
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Co-creation with customers and volunteering on customer service calls strengthens customer-centricity.
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Creating a unified visual design language in a company with many acquisitions requires inclusive crowdsourcing approaches.
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Replacing the Minimum Viable Product concept with Minimum Lovable Experience shifts focus to value, ease of use, and craft.
Notable Quotes
"I’ve run to risk, I’ve run to change."
"If your leadership team isn’t ready for change, you have this uphill battle."
"Change is a team sport."
"Design is not a noun; design is an active verb."
"Everyone is a designer."
"There’s power in saying what you mean, but being respectful — we call it mature directness."
"Two groups of people who use the word user: our industry and drug dealers."
"Silos are organizational killers."
"Minimum Viable Product: let’s fucking blow it up."
"When we build valuable, easy to use products with the highest degree of craft, we achieve the quality that inspires love."
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