Enterprise Storytelling Sessions
Summary
- Jana Sedivy (Principal, Authentic Insight): A Story about Stories (VIDEO) - Carla Pileggi (UX Architect, Design System Lead, Pitney Bowes): A Sympathy Card for a Front-End Developer (VIDEO) - Ramya Mahalingam (UX Architect, Cardinal Solutions): The Road to Being a Bridge Is Not at all Paved (VIDEO) - Audrey Crane (Partner, DesignMap): Thoughts on Vulnerability (VIDEO) - Lada Gorlenko (Director of Research, Smartsheet): Make My Day (VIDEO) - and a horror story from Adam Polansky (XD Strategist, Bottle Rocket Studios) (VIDEO)
Key Insights
-
•
Five-minute talks are harder to give and follow than 45-minute talks because they lack gradual build-up.
-
•
Audience engagement is crucial in rapid storytelling sessions to keep pace with the quick transitions.
-
•
Collaborative storytelling using alternating positive and negative frames ('fortunately'/'unfortunately') drives creativity and connection.
-
•
Volunteering participants to form a storytelling line enhances group dynamic and accountability.
-
•
Clear structure and rhythm (using keywords) help the audience stay synchronized during complex narrative exercises.
-
•
Building stories in short bursts with twists keeps the audience mentally active and entertained.
-
•
The session's success depends on both speaker preparation and audience readiness to think quickly.
-
•
Conducting warm-up vocal exercises (saying 'fortunately' and 'unfortunately') improves timing and comfort.
-
•
Ambiguity in narrative handoffs encourages creative linking between unrelated story segments.
-
•
Interactive storytelling exercises can serve as effective team-building tools in enterprise UX settings.
Notable Quotes
"It’s harder than a 45 minute talk."
"Normally you go into a talk and they build just like a story. A little bit of information, more information, more information. Here’s my point, and that’s it."
"I’m worried you aren’t up to it, frankly."
"We got to get everybody to tell stories in the whole room."
"Fortunately, that was terrible."
"Unfortunately, that was very good."
"You guys have the harder job."
"We’re going to say fortunately, and she’s going to say a sentence. Then we say unfortunately, and he’s going to say a sentence connected to that sentence."
"Watch my lips and my body language if you’re starting to lose the timing on the word."
"When the dot com bubble burst, I had a great design job. Unfortunately, it was at another dot com."
Or choose a question:
More Videos
"Users have no choice but to use the software we build, so adoption metrics are often not useful."
Alexandra SchmidtEnterprise UX Playbook
December 1, 2022
"The hiring process typically includes two manager screens and a final interview with project presentations."
Jen Crim Jess Quittner Saritha Kattekola Alex Karr Gurbani PahwaCulture, DIBS & Recruiting
June 11, 2021
"If you’re a product manager, you don’t do very much design work anymore; you care about it but step away from the Figma."
Christian CrumlishAMA with Christian Crumlish, author of Product Management for UX People
March 24, 2022
"We have to slow down hiring to be more thoughtful and deliberate about who we bring on the team."
Libby MaurerTreating Diversity & Inclusion in Hiring as a Design Problem
December 5, 2019
"Technology is a tool, not a solution in itself; it needs human input."
Ali Jeffery Sheri ChudowHow DesignOps Helped Enable Wall Street to Work Remotely
October 22, 2020
"Hugh Dubberly argues we should stop describing design as problem solving and instead see it as engaged conversation."
Daniel GloydDesigning From the Inside Out: How Method Acting Can Inspire Design Research
February 12, 2026
"Every student has unique strengths that should be recognized and nurtured."
Kristin SkinnerFive Years of DesignOps
September 29, 2021
"Design strategy focuses on providing a framework for developing design solutions that support a given product strategy, whereas product strategy addresses the business model, the roadmap, and prioritizing requirements - Frank Guo."
Johanna KollmannInsights-Driven Product Strategy: Get your Research to Count
December 6, 2022
"The interface you’ve designed is like a landscape shaping the flow of user behavior as water flows through a stream."
David SternbergUncovering the hidden forces shaping user behavior
July 17, 2025
Latest Books All books
Dig deeper with the Rosenbot
How can UX practitioners build influence within healthcare organizations where clinical outcomes dominate decision-making?
How can you tailor play activities to fit different team psychologies?
How could universal acceptance and personalized learning journeys change college admissions and education?