Rosenverse

This video is only accessible to Gold members. Log in or register for a free Gold Trial Account to watch.

Log in Register

Most conference talks are accessible to Gold members, while community videos are generally available to all logged-in members.

Growing in Enterprise Design through Making Connections

Gold
Monday, June 3, 2019 • Enterprise Experience 2019
Share the love for this talk
Growing in Enterprise Design through Making Connections
Speakers: Nick Cochran
Link:

Summary

Designers are known for their ability to make connections—to take in a wide variety of diverse data points and find meaning through patterns and associations. As designers in enterprise, we can use this ability to be more effective partners and leaders. In his journey with design at ExxonMobil, Nick Cochran has thrived on finding and making these organizational connections. This talk will highlight how he has used this ability, featuring examples of connections made and some he wished were made sooner. He will also share some practical methods to collect these data points so that more valuable connections can be made.

Key Insights

  • Early entrepreneurial experiences, like domain registration, can have long-lasting impacts on career and personal life.

  • Large enterprises often operate in silos, causing confusion and lack of transparency that design can help clarify.

  • Design’s core ability of sense-making—understanding complexity and acting effectively—is crucial in enterprise environments.

  • ExxonMobil grew its design practice from 3 to 100 designers by making strategic connections and embedding design in workflows.

  • Investing in design systems like Unity accelerates app development and fosters cross-team collaboration.

  • A third of ExxonMobil’s design roles came from internal transitions, enriching teams with enterprise knowledge.

  • Meaningful conversations led by curiosity and specific questions can uncover unexpected insights and opportunities.

  • Leaders play a key role in facilitating connection opportunities by creating dedicated spaces and communities.

  • Inviting non-designers to participate in user research bridges understanding and motivates skill development.

  • Sharing insights with context helps others understand relevance and acts as a multiplier for organizational knowledge.

Notable Quotes

"A connection I made at 14 helped me fund college, find my wife, and get my job at ExxonMobil."

"Working in enterprise can feel like chaos with unclear directions and siloed information."

"John Kolko said design is a way of organizing complexity or finding clarity in chaos."

"Sense-making is a motivated, continuous effort to understand connections and act effectively."

"We earned over $100,000 in commission by connecting customer needs to an existing domain registration service."

"It’s not just about being technically good; understanding people’s motivations is key to great app experience."

"There’s a huge opportunity in transitioning people from other disciplines into design roles."

"Treat every conversation as an opportunity to make connections and learn meaningfully."

"Inviting people outside your silo to join projects can lead to better outcomes and personal growth."

"Don’t make the spotlight about yourself; give it back to the people doing great work in your organization."

Ask the Rosenbot
Kate Towsey
The State of ResearchOps: More Than Just Theory
2019 • DesignOps Community
Shazia Ali
Communication: Innovative techniques for making your voice heard [Advancing Research Community Workshop Series]
2024 • Advancing Research Community
Sha Hwang
The Lost Year
2021 • Design at Scale 2021
Gold
Discussion
2017 • Enterprise Experience 2017
Gold
Sarah Williams
A Framework for CX Transformation
2021 • Design at Scale 2021
Gold
Jennifer Strickland
Fireside Chat: How Design Addresses a World on Fire
2022 • Civic Design Community
Marjorie Stainback
Transforming Strategic Research Capacity through Democratization
2019 • DesignOps Summit 2019
Gold
Jane Davis
Strategic Shifts and Innovations in User Research: Navigating Challenges and Opportunities
2025 • Advancing Research 2025
Gold
Nina Jurcic
The Design System Rollercoaster: From Enabler and Bottleneck to Catalyst for Change
2023 • DesignOps Summit 2023
Gold
Maggie Dieringer
Creating Consistency Through Constant Change
2024 • DesignOps Summit 2020
Gold
Sam Proulx
Mobile Accessibility: Why Moving Accessibility Beyond the Desktop is Critical in a Mobile-first World
2022 • DesignOps Summit 2022
Gold
Megan Nipe
Human-Centered Design for Engagement: Maturing from Newsletterville to Personalized, One-to-One Messaging
2021 • Civic Design 2021
Gold
Deanna Washington
Scaling Success: Paving the Path from DesignOps to VP
2023 • DesignOps Summit 2023
Gold
Steve Baty
Breaking Out of Ruts: Tips for Overcoming the Fear of Change
2016 • Enterprise UX 2016
Gold
Harry Max
Priority Zero: Some Things are More Equal than Others
2016 • Enterprise UX 2016
Gold
Christian Crumlish
Introduction by our Conference Chair
2022 • Design in Product 2022
Gold

More Videos

Kate Towsey

"Building ecosystems of interconnected tools that work seamlessly is crucial for modern, fast-moving organizations."

Kate Towsey Basel Fakhoury Oren Friedman Graham Gardner

Participant Recruitment and Management Tools

March 12, 2026

Jennifer Kong

"Documentation is important for liability and useful for patient handoffs, so notes must be concise yet detailed."

Jennifer Kong

Journeying toward AI-assisted documentation in healthcare

June 5, 2024

Kevin M. Hoffman

"When product leaders ask for research just to validate ideas, the best response is to say, ‘fuck this group,’ then do real user interviews."

Kevin M. Hoffman

Theme 2: Enterprise Team Journey

June 3, 2019

Amy Marquez

"There’s been a huge convergence because everybody’s got a mobile device now and expects a certain kind of experience."

Amy Marquez

INVEST: Discussion

June 15, 2018

Gretchen Anderson

"Invite yourself to the table by bringing actual deliverables, like storyboards and prototypes."

Gretchen Anderson

Scaling the Human Center

June 8, 2017

April Reagan

"We're building bridges not only for ourselves but for the generations who will come after us."

April Reagan

Look, Think, Act: The Futures-Smart Design Organization

October 1, 2021

Dante Guintu

"My superpower is to connect the dots between people, places, ideas, and opportunities."

Dante Guintu

How to Crush the Talent Crunch

September 8, 2022

Jaime Creixems

"Iteration is the golden rule of design, including iterating on your design system rules themselves."

Jaime Creixems

Best Practices when Creating and Maintaining a Design System

June 7, 2023

Billy Carlson

"Wireframes don’t add value to the product, customers don’t buy and install wireframes. The true value is the wireframing process."

Billy Carlson

Principles of Team Wireframing

October 2, 2023