Summary
The talk opens by imagining a workplace where everyone has deep empathy for customers, improving both product and employee experiences. It highlights that in enterprise companies, UX is often added late and must scramble to scale and maximize impact amidst rapid growth. Using SmartSheet as an example, the speaker outlines challenges UX teams face as companies grow, including team organization, process scaling, and preventing disjointed experiences across product silos. Three speakers then present their success stories: VB Rosenstein, director of experience research at Zendesk, shares how she scaled a global UX research practice while adding rigor and credibility; Vasilio Sampalis, lead UX designer at LEGO, describes a top-down and bottom-up approach to increase user-centric maturity that gained Gartner's attention; and Jackie Ho, design practice lead at VMware, discusses maintaining team accountability and autonomy while keeping alignment post-scale. A key theme is making user experience everyone’s responsibility through an organization-wide design thinking culture.
Key Insights
-
•
UX often gets added late in enterprise companies after product and engineering teams are established.
-
•
Scaling UX during rapid company growth requires adjusting team structure and processes continuously.
-
•
UX teams must avoid product silo experiences by maintaining a cohesive overall user experience.
-
•
Creating a culture where everyone practices design thinking democratizes user-centric decision-making.
-
•
VB Rosenstein scaled Zendesk’s global research practice with process streamlining and increased rigor.
-
•
Vasilio Sampalis implemented both top-down and bottom-up strategies at LEGO to improve user-centric maturity.
-
•
LEGO’s user-centric program attracted attention from Gartner, signaling high success.
-
•
Jackie Ho focuses on balancing team autonomy with alignment to keep multiple UX teams accountable at VMware.
-
•
Each growth stage introduces unique UX challenges requiring tailored management approaches.
-
•
Embedding empathy for customers deeply across all roles can significantly improve product and employee experiences.
Notable Quotes
"Imagine if everyone you worked with, regardless of the role, had deep empathy for your customers and made decisions based on those customer needs."
"In the enterprise space, the UX function is added later. It’s not part of the company’s original DNA."
"By the time the value of a human centered process has been proven, UX is often outnumbered."
"How do they grow and organize their teams to keep up? How do they scale their processes? How do they maximize efficiency and quality?"
"We need to create an army of design thinkers across the organization who can make better decisions on what to build and how to build it."
"VB Rosenstein scaled Zendesk’s global UX research practice while adding rigor and credibility to their work."
"Vasilio Sampalis’s program at LEGO is so interesting and successful that it has attracted the attention of Gartner."
"Jackie Ho talks about how to keep teams accountable and aligned while maintaining their autonomy."
"Each stage of growth brings different challenges for UX to overcome."
"User experience is everyone’s responsibility. It’s not just UXs."
Or choose a question:
More Videos
"Designing for edge cases can lead to solutions everyone wants to use because they’re more comfortable and inclusive."
Billy CarlsonIdeation tips for Product Managers
December 6, 2022
"Simpler interfaces on mobile are an accessibility win for users with ADHD or cognitive challenges."
Sam ProulxMobile Accessibility: Why Moving Accessibility Beyond the Desktop is Critical in a Mobile-first World
November 17, 2022
"The harder I think, the further I am from the answer."
Dan WillisEnterprise Storytelling Sessions
May 13, 2015
"Single sign-on was going to be really important because I didn’t want any barrier entry for people."
Michael PolivkaScaling Design through Relationship Maps
November 7, 2017
"The top LLM we tested got only 47% accuracy categorizing Reddit posts, which is sobering."
Karen McGrane Jeff EatonAI for Information Architects: Are the robots coming for our jobs?
November 21, 2024
"One researcher per team for at least three days a week was considered an outrageous luxury at GDS in 2013."
Leisa ReicheltOpening Keynote: Operating in Context
November 7, 2018
"Values determine the team environment you create; they permeate through leadership and affect performance and happiness."
Kim Holt Emma Wylds Pearl Koppenhaver Maisee XiongA Salesforce Panel Discussion on Values-Driven DesignOps
September 8, 2022
"Change requires more than a single vision or a few projects; it takes careful orchestration throughout the organization."
Jacqui Frey Alison RandSetting the Table for Dynamic Change
October 24, 2019
"Strategy always before tactics. You cannot succeed without a clear strategic framework."
How to Identify and Increase your "Experience Quotient"
June 15, 2018
