Theme 1: Introduction
Summary
Bria opens the first day of the conference with an energetic introduction to theme one, centered on the craft of designing at scale in enterprise UX. She acknowledges the complexity of building and shipping products that serve millions of users across many geographies and diverse contexts. The sessions curated under this theme address real-world challenges such as modernizing legacy platforms, creating cohesive UX after mergers and acquisitions, and planning for accessibility and inclusivity. Cornelius Rushrew delivers the framing talk to set the tone for tackling large-scale design challenges, while Kenneth Bowles closes by discussing responsibility and ethics in design. Bria emphasizes the collaborative and iterative process behind the talks, ensuring practical, actionable guidance throughout the sessions.
Key Insights
-
•
Building at scale in enterprises requires balancing complexity across millions of users and dozens of geographies.
-
•
Craftsmanship is crucial even in large-scale enterprise UX projects.
-
•
Modernizing legacy platforms is a significant, common challenge in enterprise design.
-
•
Defining a cohesive user experience after mergers and acquisitions demands careful strategy.
-
•
Accessibility and inclusivity must be integral considerations from the start.
-
•
Conversations and iterative collaboration among speakers improve the relevance of presentations.
-
•
Each conference theme is designed as a mini-conference focused on a specific aspect of UX at scale.
-
•
Cornelius Rushrew’s framing talk sets foundational strategies for dealing with large-scale challenges.
-
•
Kenneth Bowles addresses ethics and responsibility as essential components of enterprise design.
-
•
Themes evolved from previous enterprise UX conferences show a maturation toward more holistic experience design.
Notable Quotes
"You have to build something, ship something, and make something especially when dealing with hundreds of thousands of objects."
"Designing at scale means handling millions of users and dozens of geographies with all their unique challenges."
"Craft is a pet issue for me; it remains central even in massive enterprise projects."
"We collaborate and iteratively build out these presentations as part of a continuing conversation."
"Modernizing legacy platforms while maintaining a cohesive UX is a major challenge enterprises face."
"Mergers and acquisitions require us to carefully avoid pitfalls when unifying user experiences."
"Accessibility and inclusivity are not afterthoughts; they must be baked into the design from the start."
"Cornelius Rushrew will set the stage and tone for how to tackle problems at scale."
"Kenneth Bowles will close with a focus on responsibility and ethics in enterprise UX."
"Each conference theme acts like a mini conference exploring a deep aspect of designing at scale."
Or choose a question:
More Videos
"Our first day’s theme is around establishing and growing design operations."
Bria AlexanderOpening Remarks
September 29, 2021
"Everyone was just staying in their lane and focused on delivery, not seeing how their project impacted others."
Matt StoneScaling Empathy, A Case Study in Change Management
June 11, 2021
"Engineers have never before been told they aren’t the most valuable people—this is new, so have empathy for them."
Paul FordNew work, new words: A glossary for AI
June 9, 2026
"Multiple teams were supporting the same goals in different ways, and that led to meaningful cross-team conversations."
Indra KlavinsA Design Ops Girl in a Dev Ops World
October 23, 2019
"Today’s problems come from yesterday’s solutions."
Meghan Hellstern Joanne DongThe Next 100 Years of Civic Design: How Might We Better Rise to Meet the Challenges of Today and Tomorrow?
December 10, 2021
"Don’t do remote contextual inquiry just because you can; you lose so much context."
Sarah RinkRemote User Research: Dos and Don'ts from the Virtual Field
June 11, 2020
"There’s just far fewer variables to deal with on mobile because it’s basically one browser and one screen reader per platform."
Sam ProulxMobile Accessibility and You
June 9, 2022
"Building influence has been such a challenging part of growing in my own career. It takes a lot of communication and understanding others’ goals."
Catt Small Micah Bennett Brian Carr Jessica HarlleeWhat's Next for ICs: Exploring Staff and Principal Designer Roles
February 22, 2024
"My prior experience as a tour manager helped me operationalize and mobilize teams, anticipating risks and preparing for everything."
Michelle ChinThe DesignOps Starter Kit
September 29, 2021