Summary
Join today’s speakers for Q&A and discussion of the day’s topics.
Key Insights
-
•
User centricity in enterprises is still lagging mainly due to mindset challenges, lack of clear ROI communication, and IT acting as an order taker rather than a collaborator, per Vasilios.
-
•
Designers often struggle to move beyond UI/visual design roles because of both external role constraints and internal attachment to pixel perfection, Jackie notes.
-
•
A company culture overly obsessed with a single customer persona risks siloed solutions that miss broader systemic and business impacts, warns Jackie.
-
•
Enterprises often fail to consider the full end-to-end user journey with all brand touchpoints, instead focusing on narrow slices; service design is key but underutilized, according to Vivi.
-
•
Dedicated user researchers add value by synthesizing and documenting learnings across teams and maintaining research rigor, roles that busy designers often can't fulfill, explains Vivi.
-
•
Using SUS (System Usability Scale) scores as lightweight, validated KPIs helps measure usability improvements and communicate success to stakeholders, as practiced by Vasilios' team.
-
•
Growth boards promote transparency and alignment by bringing cross-disciplinary teams together and focusing on outcome-driven metrics rather than feature outputs, Jackie explains.
-
•
Executive buy-in and framing design and research work as mutually beneficial business partnerships are essential to gaining traction and sustainability, stresses Vasilios.
-
•
Small UX teams can leverage outsourcing and existing organizational tools creatively to scale research operations despite limited resources, according to Vivi.
-
•
Leaders personally engaging in user interviews and closely interacting with teams can accelerate empathy and alignment beyond formal presentations, as highlighted by Jackie.
Notable Quotes
"Sometimes user centricity is seen as unnecessary because our end users are colleagues, not paying customers."
"IT often acts as an order taker rather than an equal collaborator, which creates enormous issues."
"Designers want to contribute beyond UI design but often hold on tightly to pixel perfection that may not matter to users."
"Customer obsession can blind teams to the business reality that building things for customers doesn't always drive a great business."
"Service design thinking about end-to-end experiences and all brand touchpoints is very up-and-coming but still has a long way to go."
"Designers might talk to customers, but that doesn’t mean they’re doing research well or synthesizing insights organization-wide."
"We aimed for SUS scores of at least 68 because that’s the industry average and a lightweight, valid usability measure."
"Nothing of value comes for free; if you’re selling something for free, people won’t really appreciate it."
"You need executive buy-in because without it, there’s very little you can do to affect change in enterprise environments."
"Great product teams have short feedback loops and involve cross-disciplinary collaboration day to day, not just throwing designs over the wall."
Or choose a question:
More Videos
"Doctors hate using EHRs because it turns them into clerks, interacting more with machines than patients."
Standardizing Product Merits for Leaders, Designers, and Everyone
June 15, 2018
"Building a map is like learning to play chess—you have to see the board to decide your move."
Simon WardleyMaps and Topographical Intelligence (Videoconference)
January 31, 2019
"Designing for the dominant default ignores people whose identities are marginalized or excluded."
Sandra CamachoCreating More Bias-Proof Designs
January 22, 2025
"When fellow co-workers label an individual as difficult, it’s hard not to treat that person as a problem."
Darian DavisLessons from a Toxic Work Relationship
January 8, 2024
"My goal today is to showcase how generative AI can go beyond just speeding up our processes and actually catapult us in our career."
Fisayo Osilaja[Demo] The AI edge: From researcher to strategist
June 4, 2024
"Craft cultivates customer satisfaction, loyalty, and even forgiveness when functional issues arise."
Uday GajendarThe Wicked Craft of Enterprise UX
May 13, 2015
"We formed a small core task force empowered to make decisions to avoid delays from formal reviews."
Davis Neable Guy SegalHow to Drive a Design Project When you Don’t Have a Design Team
June 10, 2021
"Once cash prizes were gone, people stopped feeling ownership of the design system."
Eniola OluwoleLessons From the DesignOps Journey of the World's Largest Travel Site
October 24, 2019
"Product managers feel design is a black box; they want visibility, transparency, and accountability on timelines."
Aurobinda Pradhan Shashank DeshpandeIntroduction to Collaborative DesignOps using Cubyts
September 9, 2022
