Summary
An acquisition can completely upend an organization, changing how we work—and whom we work with—often with no plan to manage the shift. When Accela acquired eight companies in 2015, we brought on hundreds of employees and dozens of products, but only one designer. Our UX team was now faced with integrating products from unfamiliar industries by working with teams unfamiliar with UX. Ken Hoffmann and Nova Wehman-Brown will discuss how setting aside their egos, and leaning on concrete data and user-centered design (internally and externally) built trust among teammates and turned chaos into collaboration in a fairly short period of time.
Key Insights
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Acquisitions often foster an us-versus-them culture that hinders collaboration unless actively broken down.
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Vulnerability and admitting 'I don't know' fosters trust and openness in high-pressure, unfamiliar environments.
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UX functions can face resistance from veteran developers who perceive design as taking away a valued part of their job.
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Simple exercises like design studios that involve everyone drawing help flatten hierarchies and build shared ownership.
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User analytics tools like Pendo can reveal surprising user behaviors, challenging assumptions and guiding better design.
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Frequent, data-driven design sprints accelerate collaboration and product alignment across newly merged teams.
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Attrition and turnover during acquisitions disrupt team continuity, making shared experience vital yet difficult.
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Open discussions about process and emotional challenges following failed attempts can lead to meaningful breakthroughs.
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A strong UX–product management partnership enables iterative pivots that save resources and better serve users.
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Leadership modeling participation in new practices is key to overcoming resistance and driving culture change.
Notable Quotes
"What gets us into trouble is not what we don’t know. It’s what we know for sure that just ain’t so."
"I’ve never done this before. I’m going to be learning as I go and I’m going to share everything I learn with you."
"If you’re going to be in this room, you have to collaborate and you have to participate."
"Thousands of users were clicking on a text that wasn’t even a link—it looked like one, but wasn’t."
"The designers were taking a part of their job away, and it was something the developers really loved."
"We made it easier for him to say yes by making it easier to say no."
"We asked people to step out of their comfort zones and do things they'd never done before."
"Despite all the insecurities, most team members were willing to show up every week and challenge what they thought they knew."
"We didn’t exploit the knowledge gap. Everyone was willing to say I don’t know. Can you help me?"
"Be the one who picks up the sharpie first, especially if you’re in a leadership position."
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