Rosenverse

This video is only accessible to Gold members. Log in or register for a free Gold Trial Account to watch.

Log in Register

Most conference talks are accessible to Gold members, while community videos are generally available to all logged-in members.

Theme 3 Discussion

Gold
Monday, January 8, 2024 • Enterprise Experience 2020
Share the love for this talk
Theme 3 Discussion
Speakers: Smitha Papolu , Nova Wehman-Brown , Melissa Schmidt and Adam Menter
Link:

Summary

Shameless opens the conversation addressing the difficulty of synchronizing remote teams across time zones, likening collaboration to dance and emphasizing the need to replicate energy and nonverbal cues asynchronously. Anthony Arman Derraz and Michelle highlight the complexity of designers working between agency and in-house cultures, underscoring code-switching and mutual respect to maintain both identities. Darryl differentiates handling toxic relationships from inside versus outside perspectives, noting internal conversations can be easier but carry more risk. Solomon and others emphasize the importance of clarifying expectations early and fostering open conversations to bridge gaps between client demands and what consultants can deliver. Charzade shares positive outcomes from the pandemic, including increased trust, closer teams despite physical distance, and a more human approach to client relationships. Darian and others reflect on cultural aspects and the uncertain future of remote work, debating whether the new trust and flexibility will last after the pandemic.

Key Insights

  • Remote collaboration benefits from adopting dance-like cues to signal and synchronize asynchronous communication.

  • Maintaining two distinct organizational cultures requires intentional routines, mutual respect, and one-on-ones between teams.

  • Code-switching between company languages helps embedded agency designers effectively integrate without losing identity.

  • Outside consultants can exit toxic relationships cleanly, while insiders face more complex, riskier navigation.

  • Explicit conversations about project expectations reduce gaps between client demands and consultancy deliverables.

  • Pandemic conditions unexpectedly strengthened trust and personal connections among remote teams.

  • Being transparent about not knowing everything upfront helps agencies set realistic expectations with clients.

  • Workplace cultures that respect personal time and avoid long hours improve collaborative outcomes.

  • Remote work humanizes professional relationships by blending personal and business contexts.

  • The future of agency work may require evolving beyond traditional models due to economic and global shifts.

Notable Quotes

"I gave birth to two things at once: my talk and my son Mateo within two days."

"How do we dance at a distance? That is the real tricky part of remote teamwork."

"When I was at IBM, embedded designers were expected to fit in seamlessly, which was an honor."

"Code-switching between your native tongue and someone else’s helps foster better connection."

"The happier their team is, the better the work they deliver for me will be."

"When you’re on the outside, there’s always an end to the relationship; it’s very clear and clean."

"Sometimes you need somebody else to tell you something obvious, like consultants should not be expected to know everything upfront."

"The pandemic pulled our remote team much closer—being physically apart made us feel closer."

"A real test of trust happened where I could confidently step away from micromanaging after we shifted online."

"We are all becoming more human in work, stripping away masks and fronts, which strengthens relationships."

Ask the Rosenbot
Sandra Camacho
Creating More Bias-Proof Designs
2025 • Rosenfeld Community
Sofía Delsordo
Public Policy for Jalisco's Designers to Make Design Matter
2021 • Civic Design 2021
Gold
Devon Powers
Imagining Better Futures
2022 • Advancing Research 2022
Gold
Ari Zelmanow
Dark Side of Democratization
2023 • Advancing Research Community
Randolph Duke II
War Stories LIVE! Randy Duke II
2020 • Advancing Research 2020
Gold
Ariel Kennan
Theme Two Intro
2022 • Civic Design 2022
Gold
Bria Alexander
Theme Two Intro
2022 • DesignOps Summit 2022
Gold
Jessamyn Edwards
Surviving Your UX Career in Enterprise Design
2021 • Enterprise Community
Cheryl Platz
Demystifying Multimodal Design: The Design Practice You Didn't Know You're Doing
2024 • Rosenfeld Community
Josh Clark
Sentient Design: New Design Patterns for New Experiences (3rd of 3 seminars)
2025 • Rosenfeld Community
John Taschek
Making People the X-Factor in the Enterprise
2018 • Enterprise Experience 2018
Gold
Mansi Gupta
Women-Centric Research: What, Why, How
2023 • Advancing Research 2023
Gold
Tara Tressel
Investigating qualitative depth of AI-moderated interviews
2026 • Advancing Research 2026
Gold
Christian Bason
Innovating With People: Unleashing the Potential of Civic Design
2021 • Civic Design 2021
Gold
Rikki Teeters
Concept to code: Transforming ideas into functional products with Kiro
2026 • Designing with AI 2026
Conference
Libby Maurer
Treating Diversity & Inclusion in Hiring as a Design Problem
2019 • Enterprise Community

More Videos

Rachel Posman

"We created separate tracks so people can self-organize, leverage the right skills, and grow their careers in focused ways."

Rachel Posman John Calhoun

A Closer Look at Team Ops and Product Ops (Two Sides of the DesignOps Coin)

November 19, 2020

Melissa Eggleston

"Meeting people where they are means recognizing what’s going on in their life and their context."

Melissa Eggleston Maya Israni Florence Kasule Owen Seely Andrea Schneider

Practical People Skills for Building Trust on Teams and with Partners

December 9, 2021

Bilan Hashi

"Mirror neurons are triggered when we listen to a story, allowing us to empathize by identifying shared commonalities."

Bilan Hashi

The Tension Between Story Collecting and Story Telling in Research

March 10, 2021

Cassandra Piester

"You want to get really deep in the weeds with one team first, then move into a facilitation role to scale across teams."

Cassandra Piester

Developing and Deploying Your Design Operations Strategy

September 24, 2024

Vanessa Varin

"What's weak feedback? Vague, off target, or late stuff like make it pop or opinions with no owner or next step."

Vanessa Varin

Feedback: The Other F-Word

September 10, 2025

Dolly Parikh

"UX mindset lets you see where the friction and gaps are to create value inside and outside organizations."

Dolly Parikh

Exit Interview #7: Journey of a Social Entrepreneur

May 21, 2026

Matt LeMay

"High-performing cross-functional teams self-organize around shared goals even with ambiguous roles."

Matt LeMay

You Don’t “Get” Anyone to Do Anything

December 6, 2022

Tricia Wang

"How might we has become like a church—untouchable and sanctimonious instead of a flexible tool."

Tricia Wang

The most popular design thinking strategy is BS

January 27, 2022

Dan Willis

"They thought if we build system functionality and send people to training, it will just work. Spoiler: it didn’t."

Dan Willis

Filling the Void

November 7, 2018