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.

A Top-Down and Bottom-Up Approach to User-Centric Maturity at Scale

Gold
Monday, January 8, 2024 • Enterprise Experience 2020
Share the love for this talk
A Top-Down and Bottom-Up Approach to User-Centric Maturity at Scale
Speakers: Vasileios Xanthopoulos
Link:

Summary

User-centric design and development mindset and maturity has been low in an enterprise context. UX departments struggle a lot to gain momentum and help organizations create better products in various different ways with RoI of their efforts being low. How might we increase the user-centric maturity and mindset of the enterprise in a more organic way and help as many product teams as possible while having insufficient UX specialists? Vasilieos will present a case study for top-down and bottom-up approach taken at LEGO with practical information, learnings and reflections so far.

Key Insights

  • Enterprise UX maturity requires both top-down executive buy-in and bottom-up grassroots training.

  • Starting UX without support leads to ‘lipstick on a pig’ outcomes where UX is superficial.

  • Treating the UX department as a business with responsibilities increases influence and strategic impact.

  • With only seven UX designers for 400 products, focusing on highest ROI products is necessary but causes coverage gaps.

  • Embedding a UX partner at leadership level within business streams aligns UX vision with product strategy.

  • Using system usability scale (SUS) scores as a KPI standardizes measurement across a large product portfolio.

  • Vendor selection criteria incorporating usability prevents long-term failure from poor off-the-shelf solutions.

  • The UX academy trains non-designers on practical UX methods, increasing UX capacity organically by upskilling existing staff.

  • Securing dedicated time (20%) for UX activities within product teams is crucial for effective bottom-up adoption.

  • User-centric mindset spreads more successfully when peer colleagues, not external UX teams, lead the change.

Notable Quotes

"User experience is not like the sauce you put on your steak to make it taste better. It is the actual protein within the steak."

"Before, UX was usually brought in very late and expected to just put lipstick on a pig."

"We cleared three weeks of calendars to detach and look at the big picture — that was our UX reboot."

"We run our UX department as a business, with responsibilities, requirements, and expectations."

"With seven UXters for 400 products, the math doesn’t add up, so we must choose where we focus."

"A UX partner needs to develop a thick skin when engaging senior VPs and directors."

"We set the system usability scale score as a KPI for all products to improve measurement and usability."

"The UX academy gave non-designers 20% of their time to learn and practice user experience methods."

"The colleagues sitting next to you, not outsiders, are the best champions to spread UX mindset."

"One of our UX ambassadors transitioned to a full-time UX designer role after the academy."

Ask the Rosenbot
Discussion
2017 • Enterprise Experience 2017
Gold
Joerg Beringer
Scaling User Research with AI: Continuous Discovery of User Needs in Minutes
2025 • DesignOps Summit 2025
Gold
Charlotte Vorbeck
Pipeline to Civic Design
2021 • Civic Design 2021
Gold
Bud Caddell
DesignOps Community Sensing Session
2021 • DesignOps Community
Ariba Jahan
Team Resiliency Through a Pandemic
2024 • DesignOps Summit 2020
Gold
Jerome “Axle” Brown
How to Use Self-Directed Learning to Ensure Your Research Insights are Heard and Acted Upon
2021 • Advancing Research 2021
Gold
Adam Cutler
Discussion
2016 • Enterprise UX 2016
Gold
Megan Kierstead
You Are a Badass at UX: Overcoming Imposter Syndrome
2021 • Advancing Research 2021
Gold
Gillian Salerno-Rebic
Redefining Speed and Scale: How Accenture’s GrowthOS Uses AI-Simulated Insights to Reduce Risk and Accelerate Innovation
2025 • Designing with AI 2025
Gold
Jorge Arango
Scale Smart: AI-Powered Content Organization Strategies
2024 • DesignOps Summit 2024
Gold
Surya Vanka
Unleashing Swarm Creativity to Solve Enterprise Challenges
2021 • Design at Scale 2021
Gold
John Cutler
The Alignment Trap
2023 • Design in Product 2023
Gold
Ryan Matthew
Bridging Design and Code: AI-Powered Design System Integration
2025 • Rosenfeld Community
Ruzanna Rozman
Getting in Flow with Your Team
2024 • DesignOps Summit 2020
Gold
Milan Guenther
A Shared Language for Co-Creating Ambitious Endeavours
2023 • Enterprise UX 2023
Gold
Kate Towsey
Ask Me Anything (AMA) with Kate Towsey
2025 • Rosenfeld Community

More Videos

Greg Petroff

"We’re moving toward a contextual enterprise, where everything is relevant and adaptive to the user’s situation."

Greg Petroff

Software as Material—A Redux

June 6, 2023

Brendan Jarvis

"Who do you see? Who do you not see? Why do you not see them?"

Brendan Jarvis

Framing Tomorrow by Questioning Today

June 8, 2022

Prerna Makanawala

"Instead of aiming for 80% consistency, I believe 30-40% consistency with 60-70% freedom works better."

Prerna Makanawala

Achieving Balanced Design Consistency

June 9, 2021

Tricia Wang

"Shapers combine human and machine intelligence and amplify each other’s strengths."

Tricia Wang

From Users to Shapers of AI: The Future of Research

March 25, 2024

Cheryl Platz

"Is gamification just last decade’s fad or have the principles become so ubiquitous we stopped calling it that?"

Cheryl Platz

Embrace Your Fun Factor: Game Development Best Practices for Product Design

January 9, 2026

Ariel Kennan

"There’s inherent conflict that will arise when navigating many stakeholders."

Ariel Kennan

Theme Two Intro

November 17, 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

Kristin Wisnewski

"You can't just jump to the top of the pyramid like Maslow’s hierarchy—you have to consider all the underlying layers supporting the experience."

Kristin Wisnewski

Measuring What Matters

October 23, 2019

Scott Jensen

"I didn’t invest enough in slow and steady relationship building early on, and that led to major shifts."

Scott Jensen Sarah Delaney Carmen Liu

Short Take #2: UX/Product Lessons from Your Industry Peers

December 6, 2022