Summary
Mary Wirth shares her experience of embracing risk and change as the VP of Experience Design at Autodesk, a company with a rich technological legacy. Her primary goal is to transition Autodesk from being a product-centric organization to one that prioritizes user experiences. Wirth emphasizes the importance of leadership support and collective effort in fostering change within the company. She advocates for a culture where everyone participates in design, treating it as an active verb rather than a noun, and encourages the democratization of design through programs like Luma training. Wirth also highlights strategies to connect experiences across products, enhance customer interactions, foster community within teams, and ensure product quality by emphasizing craftsmanship in design. Throughout her talk, she underscores the necessity of embracing messiness and ambiguity as intrinsic to the change process.
Key Insights
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Taking risks is essential for transformative change in design.
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Leadership willingness to embrace change can make a significant difference.
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Design is a collective, team sport rather than an individual effort.
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Craftsmanship in design leads to more lovable user experiences.
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Disconnect between product management, engineering, and design can lead to inefficiencies and marginalized voices.
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Customer engagement must be prioritized to create valuable products.
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Democratizing design processes empowers all employees to contribute creatively.
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Building a strong company culture is foundational to achieving quality in products.
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Instead of focusing on minimal viable products, designers should aim for minimal lovable experiences.
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Siloed organizational structures hinder collaboration and innovation.
Notable Quotes
"We're designers, we're agents for change, in order to have change, we have to take and assume a fair amount of risk."
"I don't do anything small. This isn't going to be a UX conference. I'm going to treat this as design's coming out party."
"Design is not a noun. Design is an active verb."
"If everybody is a designer, how do you teach people to design?"
"I want to make this a drinking game. Whenever you hear the word user, take a shot."
"How do you connect these experiences and make them more streamlined, more simplistic and more delightful?"
"I want to help lead the company to become the most customer-centric company in the world."
"This is about creating minimal lovable experiences instead of minimal viable products."
"You want to really create great products. We all want to be proud of our work."
"I feel more connected than ever to my fellow designers, inspired to make change and take on new challenges."
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