The Tale of Two Companies: Building a Successful UX Practice in a Century-Old Enterprise
Summary
How do you establish a thriving UX organization in a century-old company? Our opening presentation is a tale of two organizations and two different UX leaders. They followed very different paths and come from different industries, yet their stories of success and lessons for others have a lot in common. Rob Mitzel spent his entire career at Ford, starting from a Safety Engineer and changing roles to evolve into a Design Ops Manager, as the company evolved. Sébastien Malo parachuted to CN (Canadian National Railway) only a couple of years ago, but has already changed the course of his organization. Rob and Sebastien compare and contrast stories of how UX adapted and iterated their teams, skills and service to meet the needs of an evolving enterprise IT organization and the business at large.
Key Insights
-
•
At Ford, shifting from protecting UX turf to a culture of sharing and collaboration was key to UX team growth and success.
-
•
Creating and sharing usability patterns internally can increase UX advocacy even among non-UX staff.
-
•
Establishing a UX Club and informal meetups helps build internal UX networks and culture.
-
•
Building a component library aligned with usability patterns paved the way for a design system before that term was widely used.
-
•
Filling unaddressed enterprise needs proactively can lead to new service areas and team spin-offs.
-
•
Letting go of tasks like front-end coding allowed CN’s UX team to focus on core design and strategy.
-
•
A clear UX vision must be sold internally and then demonstrated through results to gain broader organizational buy-in.
-
•
Managing up and across by building networks is crucial to identify UX opportunities beyond the team’s immediate scope.
-
•
User story mapping and journey workshops can transform waterfall requirements into agile backlogs and broaden UX impact.
-
•
Expanding leadership roles beyond UX (e.g., business analysis) can amplify the influence of UX in an enterprise.
Notable Quotes
"My job was to insulate my team from the pressures and not let anyone else do UX work. That was wrong."
"It was like publishing the family secret recipe, but sharing usability patterns was crucial for advocacy."
"We created a UX Club to talk shop, share struggles, and build ideas across teams."
"We didn’t know what a design system was, but by combining component libraries and usability patterns, we built one."
"Sometimes you have to fill a need even if there’s no formal name or structure for it yet."
"UX must operate beyond the pixel to have real impact in enterprise transformation."
"Be an expert but act as a collaborator. It’s a team sport."
"Managing up and across started with lots of coffees and questions to build a mental model of the organization."
"The team brought structure and clarity by mapping requirements into user journeys and stories."
"You owe it to your organization and your team to grow the practice while staying true to your vision."
Or choose a question:
More Videos
"The purpose of design is not to celebrate a solo genius, but to help create a just and equitable world for everyone."
Surya VankaUnleashing Swarm Creativity to Solve Enterprise Challenges
June 10, 2021
"Most people joined us with tactical asks but the conversations became strategic."
Patrick Boehler Madison KarasThe service shift: transforming media organizations to create real value through design
November 19, 2025
"Our user base is really fun and complex, with different preferences that require nuanced automation approaches."
Andreas Huebner Amy Takata Craig BrookesWhat Is It Like To Be Part of The UX Team at Compass?
March 11, 2021
"We have immature teams where design is still seen as aesthetic rather than strategic experience functionality."
Patrizia Bertini Alexandra Mengoni LeónPushing DesignOps’ Influence into New Global Markets
September 9, 2022
"People plus practices plus places equals artifacts."
Phil GilbertA Consistent Culture of Design
May 14, 2015
"Visuals from DALL·E didn’t work well; I asked multiple times to remove cables but they still appeared."
Yulya Besplemennova[Demo] Stress-testing GenAI in user research synthesis
June 4, 2024
"Video conveys trust and lets you see those purposeful pauses."
Sarah RinkRemote User Research: Dos and Don'ts from the Virtual Field
June 11, 2020
"We experimented with AI-powered sprints, but had lots of dead ends and false starts before finding what really works for us."
Mujtaba HameedThe new horizon of ethnography: using AI to unlock the full potential of in-person research
March 11, 2026
"One of the challenges for designers is to orient around forces rather than only people."
Sheryl CababaLiving in the Clouds: Adopting a Systems Thinking Mindset
June 6, 2023
