Upleveling UX

Microsoft and the tech industry writ large are at an interesting crossroads that I believe rests on our ability as UX leaders to uplevel our discipline by fostering a strong UX culture. As many of us find ourselves in the nascent stages of learning to design for generative #AI and LLMs, it's critical that we do so in a way that ethically aligns with the world’s most pressing needs.?

#Copilot, for example, is a new AI experience shared just last week that perfectly embodies this crossroads. It wasn't a haphazard decision to have design lead Copilot's development; it was Microsoft understanding the unparalleled ability of design to represent user needs and craft thoughtful experiences around them. Loop, a new #Microsoft365 app launched in public preview yesterday, followed a similar path. A strong showing of design and #UX leadership resulted in an incredibly thoughtful, powerful, and beautifully crafted new tool that moves online collaboration forward by leaps and bounds. ?

Both products are great examples of what our CEO, Satya Nadella , expressed when talking about Microsoft’s re-founding, “You actually have to prove that you belong everywhere you operate by creating local surplus and local benefits to the community… We all have to strive for inflation-adjusted economic growth that is aligned with the planet and is more equitable.”???

UX has a critical role to play within this landscape and to do so, we must uplevel our discipline by fostering a strong UX culture within our own teams and among entire companies. Why? As Steve Vassallo, said in a great Forbes article on the state of design, “Design is about more than aesthetics. #Design is understanding why you are building something, how it will be used, what needs it fulfills." For anyone in the business of making products, good design is mission critical because today’s customers are more informed and have more choices than ever before. Having experienced years or decades of product evolution, they know what good design is – not because they went to design school, but because a product is either effective, easy to use, and emotionally resonant, or it’s not. They make that decision immediately, often irrevocably, and the exciting opportunities created by LLMs will be moot unless we can frame that power in a simple and supportive UX that is embraced by everyone?

“Design is about more than aesthetics. Design is understanding why you are building something, how it will be used, what needs it fulfills."

That’s why we must uplevel UX and, particularly at the leadership level, help people from all disciplines understand the business value of having an inclusive, responsible, and trustworthy approach to product making that is humanity-centered. The scale of impact of today’s technologies - and the speed at which they’re changing - make it such that we need to evolve from thinking more singularly about human-centered design and move toward thinking at the level of humanity. Holistically, what is the global impact of our products on individuals, societies, and the environment??

Design thinking is how we should explore answering those questions and the traits and skills that the UX discipline is best known for—empathy, craftsmanship, and creativity—are those most needed to craft solutions. Organizationally and individually, we must empower UX seniority so we can actively shape product strategy, vision, and roadmaps to ensure they’re humanity-centered from inception. By “being in the room" alongside multi-disciplinary product teams, we can influence across disciplines and align complex, cross-company efforts. At a more granular level, we do this by setting a tone within teams that guides investments around the tools and processes needed to enact inclusive design that meets global human needs.??

"We do this by setting a tone within teams that guides investments around the tools and processes needed to enact inclusive design that meets global human needs."

The explosion of new AI capabilities provides a perfect environment for UX to step up and lead, and it’s ideal to have a healthy mix of internal and external viewpoints. As someone who started out as a Microsoft intern, I believe in growing leaders from within alongside hiring leaders with fresh, outside perspectives. We’ve recently been lucky enough to hire in such seminal leaders as Sabine Roehl , John Maeda , Liz Danzico , Justin M. , and Mike Davidson . They each posses that alchemic mix of vulnerability, humility, curiosity, and confidence that cultivates amazing products and team culture alike.?

This last point is especially important because products reflect the people who make them, so you can’t uplevel a discipline without considering the individuals who comprise it. As UX leaders, we must apply empathy, craftsmanship, and creativity not just toward product, but toward our own internal culture. What are our people’s most pressing needs? How can we craft the best employee experiences for them? How can we creatively improve internal processes? Our job is to serve them as much as it is our customers; if they aren’t empowered and energized, they aren’t going to design experiences that empower and delight others.???

Ultimately, upleveling UX isn’t just about creating excellence within UX; it’s about transforming companies into places where all disciplines understand the value of design thinking and know how to practice it. PM, Eng, UX, Data, Marketing—design thinking is not some proprietary process reserved for designers but rather a universal way to develop products with the customer always at the center. As UX leaders, it’s incumbent on us to demonstrate this value and set up company-wide systems and practices to enact it. That’s what scaled design excellence looks like to me and it's how I believe we can steer our industry toward delivering experiences that move humanity forward. And for me, as a proud and longtime Microsoftie, it’s how I hope UX can help our company re-found itself and align with the world’s most pressing needs.?