Discussion
Summary
The session includes several UX and product experts, including Ariel, Ross, Mark, and others, sharing rich insights on cross-organizational collaboration and design practices. Ariel details a comprehensive 75-page journey map he developed for a city government project, emphasizing the importance of creating shared documentation and safe spaces for policy conversations. Ross shares his transition from engineering to UX driven by user stories and empathy, while Mark explains how APIs help coordinate requests for design resources across large teams, ensuring that workload is manageable and transparent. The group discusses techniques for empathizing with higher-level stakeholders, including understanding how they’re measured and aligning design goals with their success metrics. They tackle maintaining continuity as teams and members change by recommending thorough handoff documents and horizontal roles overseeing core experiences. Agile challenges are addressed through dual-track agile methodologies and A/B testing, allowing iterative design in short sprints. The importance of including support teams in design feedback loops is highlighted, with suggestions for tagging support tickets for visibility. Ariel also speaks about building an internal community of practice and design kits to encourage civic service design culture. Additionally, small human gestures like sending thank you cards across silos prove effective in fostering empathy. The panel underscores making documentation accessible and integrating technical writers within UX teams. The conversation weaves in practical examples and cultural tactics from companies like Honeywell, HP, and government agencies, all focusing on bridging organizational silos to deliver better user-centered products.
Key Insights
-
•
A detailed journey map for government services can span 75 pages and serve as a critical shared internal document to build understanding across commissioners, staff, and providers, as Ariel described.
-
•
Successful collaboration in government requires designers to learn enough policy to engage as trusted peers, creating safe spaces to surface real issues and invite constructive change.
-
•
Ross transitioned from engineering to UX by discovering inspirational user stories in product feedback that generated empathy and motivation to improve user experience.
-
•
Mark’s team created lightweight 'APIs' for other teams to request UX resources, including tracking states like accepted, in progress, or rejected, helping manage demand and transparency.
-
•
Empathizing with stakeholders higher up the org involves understanding how they are measured and what success means for their role, enabling better alignment of design goals.
-
•
To maintain continuity across feature teams with turnover, special onboarding sessions and 'going away' documents are critical handoff rituals that save time and preserve context.
-
•
Dual-track agile separates design and product discovery (one track) from development sprints (another), giving designers more runway to iterate and validate ideas.
-
•
Including support teams in scrums or regular meetings improves visibility of design-related customer issues; tagging support tickets enables focused review of design feedback.
-
•
Simple gestures like sending physical thank you cards across organizational silos can foster empathy and build cross-team relationships beyond technology.
-
•
Making documentation and toolkits in plain language, avoiding jargon, broadens access for cross-disciplinary teams and elevates the value of information design within UX.
Notable Quotes
"The consolidated view is really the invitation in to help get people excited and also help them see that we've created documentation that didn't exist previously."
"As a designer and leader in this space, I've had to learn a lot about policy so I can come in and have really deep discussions with policy folks as a peer."
"I started just searching for product name to look for bugs, but then found inspirational stories that helped me build empathy for users."
"We created APIs so people can submit ideas or resource requests in a simple structure, and then track their status from accepted to rejected."
"When I talk to stakeholders, I try to understand how they are measured and what success means for their role in the company."
"When someone swaps out on a feature team, that event needs a special onboarding: briefings and whiteboard sessions to transfer knowledge."
"Dual track agile means you have the dev sprint track and a separate design/product track that leads the dev track by several cycles."
"Invite support people to scrums or monthly engineering reviews so design can get visibility into common customer issues."
"Sending real physical thank you cards across silos surprises people and builds empathy and openness beyond what technology can do."
"We wrote our toolkits in plain English so people understand the tactics without getting lost in jargon—they can learn the jargon later."
Or choose a question:
More Videos
"Scott Cook noticed his wife’s frustration balancing their checkbook and realized millions more probably felt the same pain."
Kaaren HansonStop Talking, Start Doing
June 9, 2017
"Finding the right method for the problem is important; don’t drink the Kool-Aid just because the preacher says to."
Sharbani DharBreathing Room for Delight
January 8, 2024
"Downloading and playing with local open source models gives a different experience than using faceless APIs mediated through interfaces."
Ian JohnsonLatent Scope: Finding structure in unstructured data
June 11, 2025
"Feedback is data, not personal — once you view it that way, it feels less like criticism and more like improvement information."
Bria Alexander Laura Gatewood Corey Long Daniel Orbach Laine Prokay Deanna SmithThe Big Question about Resilience: A panel discussion
September 23, 2024
"AI tools can help synthesize large documents or conduct literature reviews to support researchers’ secondary research."
Jen Cardello Dr. Shadi Janansefat Alex WrightCurating insight: Strategies for integrating knowledge across research functions
March 11, 2025
"Roles are evolving with automation, but the shift toward skills is what will define future jobs."
Lavy Kumar Kat Temple Shan Sebastian Tara Jensen Jenn ChouFuture of Work
June 9, 2021
"The BICEPS model helps understand what our co-workers need to feel supported and purposeful."
Christopher Taylor Edwards Valerie RoskeDesign as a Team Practice, A Practical Guide to Cross-functional Collaboration
September 30, 2021
"Research is at its base a sales role, which can be an uncomfortable truth for researchers."
Jane DavisStrategic Shifts and Innovations in User Research: Navigating Challenges and Opportunities
March 11, 2025
"Often we intend to be a host, but act more like a butler by backing away during the conversation."
Shazia Ali Bruce Gillespie Joyce Lee Andy WarrCommunication: Innovative techniques for making your voice heard [Advancing Research Community Workshop Series]
August 21, 2024
