Resilient Enterprise Design
Summary
What is resilient enterprise design, and how can you incorporate it into your own enterprise organization? Craig Villamor is the VP of Product Experience & Design at AppDynamics and he talks about applying context and practicality to enterprise UX design to build resiliency.
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
"Avoid 'why' questions because they trigger defensive amygdala responses; use 'what' and 'how' to keep people logical."
Joshua GravesWe Need To Talk: Addressing Unmet Expectations (Part 2 of 3)
April 28, 2025
"What are the small steps teams can take to sustain their energy and well-being over time?"
Alana WashingtonTheme 1: Introduction and Provocation
January 8, 2024
"On mobile, the screen reader intercepts all touches so users can explore without accidentally activating anything."
Sam ProulxEverything You Ever Wanted to Know About Screen Readers
June 11, 2021
"Vulnerable communities aren't always carrying signs with the word vulnerability spelled out on their forehead."
Sarah FathallahLessening the Research Burden on Vulnerable Communities
March 30, 2020
"UX leadership can't really lead the way that it should while it's within a UX organization."
Sarah Alvarado Nalini P. Kotamraju Anne Mamaghani Peter MerholzHow to make UX research leadership more effective [Advancing Research Community Workshop Series]
October 26, 2023
"We ran community gatherings with themes, presentations, and breaks, because people needed space to just chat and connect."
Kara KaneCommunities of Practice for Civic Design
April 7, 2022
"AI cannot do empathy; moderated usability testing requires the human ability to pivot and connect."
Nick Fine Alexandra Jayeun Lee Greg Nudelman Bo WangHow UX researchers can partner with (and not be replaced by) AI [Advancing Research Community Workshop Series]
August 31, 2023
"Growth as a researcher means expanding your sphere of influence from self to the entire organization."
Dave HoraA Research Skills Evolution
March 10, 2021
"You want to be very clear about what was generated by AI and what is your own stuff in your notes."
Jorge ArangoAI as Thought Partner: How to Use LLMs to Transform Your Notes (3rd of 3 seminars)
May 3, 2024