Ideally, organizational and project alignment is brought into focus during the discovery phase. Oftentimes, this isn’t the case, and can be especially apparent in existing projects facing challenges. Perhaps because of ingrained organizational practices—and differences between internal team cultures, there can appear to be insurmountable gulfs, leaving people to wonder where to start. Ideally, a comprehensive revamp would be in order—but this option is often off-the-table.

This is where we UX practitioners come in. Aside from solid user research and internal evangelizing—like any major cultural change—a ground-up approach is often required. Here, user needs (and a gradual strategic revamp) are put forth in day-to-day processes focused on the larger goal.

In this presentation, attendees will learn how to:

- Build rapport with team members—and effecting horizontal understanding and buy in through shared understanding.
- Introduce concepts of user experience to non-practitioners on your team by making them part of the process.
- Make impact early by focusing on small wins tied to the larger picture.
- Use these gains to build a culture of learning and growth to help users (the real stakeholders)—which helps your organization.

This presentation is geared toward user experience practitioners of all skill and experience levels, who are (or anticipating) systemic project challenges, and are wanting to improve their product and organization through incremental and lasting change.