Key Insights

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  Successfully prototyping PCI-compliant in-store devices requires creative partnerships with infrastructure teams to deploy controlled test builds in real store environments.

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  Physical paper prototypes can effectively simulate digital interactions to test complex service journeys in situ, revealing pain points impossible to spot in lab-only testing.

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  Employees who are also customers and outdoor enthusiasts bring valuable expertise that should be treated as a core asset and voice in design decisions.

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  Cross-disciplinary collaboration, including unexpected contributors like QA testers with store experience, can surface breakthrough ideas and solutions.

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  Building accessible, inclusive internal repositories for sharing research insights fosters widespread organizational learning across siloed teams.

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  Storytelling with real user faces, names, and videos strengthens empathy and connection between design teams and end users, especially across distributed organizations.

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  Enterprise constraints—like store layout variability, staff scheduling, and internal politics—compel adaptive, flexible designs tailored to different contexts.

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  Reframing retail employees as partners rather than mere users dramatically improves engagement and feedback quality.

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  Balancing design innovation with business goals and organizational bureaucracy is challenging but can succeed through transparent communication and strategic storytelling.

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  Enhanced employee adoption (126% increase) of the Mobile Selling Assistant demonstrates the impact of human-centered, iterative design despite limited resources.

Notable Quotes