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
"We are witnessing the most rapid loss of biodiversity in human history."
Alex Hurworth Bonnie John Fahd Arshad Antoine MarinDesigning a Contact Tracing App for Universal Access
October 23, 2020
"Sometimes doing working sessions together to strategize and solve problems can be really beneficial for these new practitioners."
Laine Riley Prokay Lisa GordonCarving a Path for Early Career DesignOps Practitioners
September 9, 2022
"People felt designs were self-evident and too much explanation was a barrier to using the patterns."
Eniola OluwoleLessons From the DesignOps Journey of the World's Largest Travel Site
October 24, 2019
"The most important value delivered to customers is always the qualitative value—the emotional and experiential impact."
Nathan ShedroffDouble Your Mileage: Use Your Research Strategically
March 31, 2020
"Voice control on mobile goes beyond digital assistants and can fully control the device for users who cannot use touch."
Sam ProulxMobile Accessibility: Why Moving Accessibility Beyond the Desktop is Critical in a Mobile-first World
November 17, 2022
"Product and design teams are usually the best initial stakeholders to engage for rapid research programs."
Feleesha SterlingBuilding a Rapid Research Program (Videoconference)
May 18, 2023
"Brand and product become two sides of the same coin when user insights have a seat at the top table."
Neil BarrieWidening the Aperture: The Case for Taking a Broader Lens to the Dialogue between Products and Culture
March 25, 2024
"Leadership roles have to evolve depending on whether you’re building awareness, influence, capacity, or measuring impact."
John DevanneyThe Design Management Office
November 6, 2017
"The higher up you go, the more qualities like bravery matter compared to methodology."
Katy MogalBut Do Your Insights Scale?
March 12, 2021