Resilient Enterprise Design
Summary
Key Insights
-
•
Enterprise design must account for complex organizational contexts, not just individual user happiness.
-
•
Resilience in design means creating systems that flex and adapt under stress rather than breaking.
-
•
Customization is essential in enterprise software for companies to express their brand, culture, and workflows.
-
•
Loss of design control due to device variety and user customization requires influence over user behavior rather than strict enforcement.
-
•
Design principles are crucial to reduce indecision and provide a clear framework for decision-making in complex projects.
-
•
Prioritizing clarity over consistency can lead to better user experience outcomes.
-
•
Successful platforms often start by solving specific, concrete problems before generalizing widely.
-
•
Design systems function as living products that maintain consistency, flexibility, and scale across an ecosystem, including users.
-
•
Making it significantly easier to do the right thing drives adoption and behavior change in design.
-
•
Modeling real-world scenarios and anticipating customization scenarios helps create resilient, flexible enterprise applications.
Notable Quotes
"In the enterprise, it’s really about make me effective taking into account non-user personas as well as the individual."
"My boss might be looking over my shoulder and see nothing but red and think I’m not doing my job."
"Designing for the real world means dealing with practical constraints and making refinements in the face of compromise."
"We’re really passionate about our craft but we’re not in control — that’s a shared hallucination we must give up."
"If you design for everyone, no one is satisfied — start with specific solutions then generalize."
"The highest paid person’s opinion, or HIPPO, often makes decisions in the absence of principles and insights."
"Make it difficult to create ugly presentations — make it ten times easier to do the right thing."
"What happens when a user customizes the UI? Does the experience break? This is the question to ask."
"A style guide is an artifact, but a design system is a living, funded product with a roadmap serving an ecosystem."
"Resilient design needs to bend without breaking — to survive stresses while still delivering value."
Or choose a question:
More Videos
"We created a Wizard of Oz smoke and mirrors prototype—a simple text message thread between a parent and this service—just to get enough buy-in."
Sarah GallimoreInspire Progress with Artifacts from the Future
November 18, 2022
"I learned to be relentless about prioritization and to hone in on specific details and use cases."
Asia HoePartnering with Product: A Journey from Junior to Senior Design
November 29, 2023
"Design ops isn’t rocket science, but between us it might actually be harder."
John Calhoun Rachel PosmanMeters, Miles, and Madness: New Frameworks to Measure the (Elusive) Value of DesignOps
September 24, 2024
"The impact of service design at the data service level is exponential, making infrastructure more human scale."
Lais de Almeida Maria IzquierdoDesigning Data Services
December 4, 2024
"Feedback isn’t about liking. Helpful feedback needs to be, is this solving your problem or not."
Dorelle RabinowitzThe Magic Word is Trust
June 15, 2018
"The tools are more important than ever even if the title UX becomes less central."
Greg PetroffExit Interview #1: Greg Petroff: From Silicon Valley Executive to Sonoma County Possibilitarian
September 24, 2025
"Long-term contracts and retainer arrangements save time by avoiding constant rebidding."
Emily LessardRFPs Without Tears: Writing Inclusive RFPS that Don't Scare Away Talent
December 9, 2021
"Accept that in research with vulnerable groups, you will always encounter the unknown and you can prepare to handle that uncertainty."
Jane Reid Janice HannawaySelf-care in User Research
April 2, 2020
"Everything everyone knows is only a model. It’s important to get our models out there where they can be challenged."
Jennifer FraserWhat would Emmy Noether Do? Math, Models and Mulling in UX Research
March 29, 2023
