Log in or create a free Rosenverse account to watch this video.
Log in Create free account100s of community videos are available to free members. Conference talks are generally available to Gold members.
Summary
Many of the most successful software development practices — like agile and UX — emerged in the consumer facing private sector. Think Airbnb, Spotify, Uber. But what happens when we try to map those practices onto large enterprises that typically serve internal employees rather than the public? For example, are UX’ers prepared to think about how large systems connect and interact? How about the challenges of HR and roles and responsibilities? Challenges such as these are highly relevant in enterprise spaces, and perhaps even more so in the public sector where systems are often quite old and ways of working have calcified. This talk focuses on “gaps” in Enterprise UX, and how we might seek to close them.
Key Insights
-
•
Enterprise UX often requires adopting solutions like AI before clear problems are defined, shifting traditional problem-first dogma.
-
•
Internal enterprise users frequently have no choice in software adoption, making traditional metrics like usage less meaningful.
-
•
Designers must learn to design effectively for off-the-shelf software platforms commonly used in enterprises, such as Sitecore and Salesforce.
-
•
Legacy interconnected systems create hidden constraints and dependencies that complicate UX improvements and require holistic system thinking.
-
•
People and process design are as critical as technology design in enterprise UX but often overlooked by designers.
-
•
Enterprise UX designers often play roles in adoption and training of new tools, expanding their traditional scope of work.
-
•
Facilitation skills are essential for UX designers to manage stakeholder politics and achieve consensus in complex enterprise environments.
-
•
Existing UX playbooks focusing on consumer-facing methods are insufficient for enterprise challenges and need extension.
-
•
Measuring success in enterprise UX requires new metrics such as quality, efficiency, and employee satisfaction beyond simple adoption numbers.
-
•
Users often develop workarounds outside official systems when frustrated, indicating important unseen challenges in enterprise UX.
Notable Quotes
"Sometimes the solution perceives the problem in the eyes of users, especially in enterprise spaces."
"Users have no choice but to use the software we build, so adoption metrics are often not useful."
"Designers need better training to work with off-the-shelf enterprise software like Sitecore, Salesforce, and SharePoint."
"Legacy interconnected systems mean improving one area can create problems in another, and we don't always know those constraints upfront."
"People and process design are real, real things we have to consider, not just the technology piece."
"Enterprise UX often pulls designers into adoption and training roles, even if that feels outside traditional design work."
"Facilitation is the grease between the wheels of difficult organizational challenges."
"No one is born knowing how to facilitate; it takes training, observation, and practice."
"Users creatively circumvent broken enterprise systems, which traditional metrics often miss."
"The current design education system doesn't always prepare designers for the complexity of enterprise challenges."
Or choose a question:
More Videos
"More ways to contact support—chat, email, phone—are essential because different disabilities require different options."
Sam ProulxOnline Shopping: Designing an Accessible Experience
June 7, 2023
"The career path shows when someone is ready for promotion, but additional training may be needed to support leadership transitions."
Ignacio MartinezFair and Effective Designer Evaluation
September 25, 2024
"Design pairs gave strength in numbers, faster turnarounds, and more impact especially when paired with product managers."
Sarah Kinkade Mariana Ortiz-ReyesDesign Management Models in the Face of Transformation
June 8, 2022
"We as humans value warmth information in others more than competence information."
Daniel GloydWarming the User Experience: Lessons from America's first and most radical human-centered designers
May 9, 2024
"Those fishermen didn’t want political news—they wanted reliable weather forecasts to stay safe at sea."
Patrick BoehlerFishing for Real Needs: Reimagining Journalism Needs with AI
June 10, 2025
"With proper prompting, AI can get you really close to a deliverable summary, much closer than expected."
Andy Barraclough Betsy NelsonFrom Costly Complexity to Efficient Insights: Why UX Teams Are Switching To Voxpopme
September 23, 2024
"Policy is ideally driven by values, while UX in the private sector is driven by delight and profit."
Alexandra SchmidtWhy Ethics Can't Save Tech
November 18, 2022
"The Etsy postmortem is not about blame, it’s about open-ended discovery and learning to do better next time."
Louis RosenfeldDiscussion: What Operations can teach DesignOps
November 6, 2017
"Discomfort and growth cannot coexist. You have to embrace discomfort to push innovation forward."
Mitchell BernsteinOrganizing Chaos: How IBM is Defining Design Systems with Sketch for an Ever-Changing AI Landscape
September 29, 2021
Latest Books All books
Dig deeper with the Rosenbot
What role does precise layer naming play in communicating design intent to AI?
How does Mary Lynn describe the effect of user interface changes on elderly users, through her personal observations?
What role does visualizing funding distributions (like 'sausage' diagrams) play in improving portfolio management?