Summary
Lou Rosenfeld, founder of Rosenfeld Media, welcomes attendees to Enterprise UX 2023, the eighth iteration of the conference focused on improving user experiences in complex enterprise settings. He discusses the evolution of the conference names and themes, emphasizing the difficulty of delivering strong UX in large organizations. Lou credits the audience for contributing to theme curation, which includes systems thinking, information architecture, knowledge management, AI, machine learning, and data-driven design. He outlines logistical details such as time zones, social activities like the Cozy Juicy Reel virtual board game, and the new virtual happy hour to foster community. Lou shares his personal journey, recounting his decade-long struggle as an information architect working with enterprises like Ford and PayPal before founding Rosenfeld Media. He acknowledges ongoing challenges such as corporate silos but expresses optimism due to new tools and methodologies that are more accessible and practical, particularly AI and data-driven design. Above all, he stresses the ethical and humane responsibility of UX professionals working in enterprises, encouraging the community to connect, share, and support each other during and beyond the conference through Slack channels and cohorts.
Key Insights
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Enterprise UX remains uniquely challenging due to organizational complexity and legacy processes.
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Community-driven curation helped define the conference themes, ensuring relevance to attendees' needs.
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Systems thinking, information architecture, AI, and data-driven design are key focal areas for modern enterprise UX.
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Sponsor sessions provide high-quality, non-sales content that expands learning opportunities.
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Virtual social activities, like Cozy Juicy Reel and a virtual happy hour, help build connections in online conferences.
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Sketch notes and detailed session artifacts enrich participants’ understanding and provide lasting resources.
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Despite decades of effort, breaking down silos in enterprises is still an ongoing challenge.
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Lou Rosenfeld’s personal journey highlights the emotional toll and persistence required in enterprise UX.
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New tools such as AI and data-driven design now offer practical, cost-effective ways to improve enterprise UX.
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Ethical, thoughtful, and humane application of UX practices in enterprises is critical as practitioners hold this responsibility.
Notable Quotes
"Enterprise UX is about delivering strong experiences in an enterprise setting, which ain’t easy."
"You’re the ones who’ve weathered digital transformations, six Sigma initiatives, agile and lean, and maybe even thrown up on a product manager."
"I called it the enterprise IA roadmap — my effort to make sense of making sense."
"Silos were a problem. And I have a feeling silos are still a problem today."
"I found that my clients kept me around mostly because I was a nice guy who put ‘em at ease — really more an information therapist."
"There’s a lot of newer tools and techniques including AI and data-driven design that have become shockingly inexpensive, powerful, and reasonably practical."
"If you don’t apply these new possibilities ethically and humanely, nobody else may."
"We want this conference to be a conversation, not a scramble to capture everything."
"Sketch notes by MJ Broadband are an incredible resource that helps capture the essence of each talk visually."
"Together you might manage to get that very large stone up and over the top of that very steep hill."
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