Employee Pulse
From escalations to simplification: a team’s commitment to customer success
Over several years at Qualtrics, I supported a talented, cross-functional team that drove product simplification to reduce customer pain and operational costs. This case study highlights the team's growth, collaboration, and lasting impact on our customers, the organization, and each other from the initiative’s conception in 2019 to its successful launch in 2023.
1 | Prioritize for impact
Frequent code yellows strained morale and diverted focus from critical problems.
To address this, we welcomed a new designer and ran a workshop to foster team empathy, ownership, and a shared vision.
The team identified 84 steps across 13 milestones.
Download the workshop summary
The collaboration framed critical problems & inspired solutions
I empowered the new designer to co-lead a workshop with customer-facing teams, where they accelerated onboarding and uncovered costly pain points. The designer played a key role in identifying that while many issues involved platform dependencies, the biggest challenges lay in participant management, which was uniquely on our team to solve. Partnering with a support engineer, the designer helped shape product investments that addressed the most urgent issues for customers and engineering.
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The designer led usability improvements & championed inclusive design across the org
In just a few months, the new designer became a key member of the team, driving incremental improvements and product simplicity. They championed inclusive design, sharing their passion with product and engineering partners, as well as the broader UX organization through awareness initiatives like this Accessibility & Inclusive Design presentation. I'm incredibly grateful of the positive impact they made on the product, team, and UX organization in such a short time.
The team emerged from code yellow overload with critical UX issues & root causes addressed
Within a year, the key problems were resolved, and a product backlog was established. While it took time for engineering and the organization to catch up, the groundwork for broader improvements was set. To support the designer's growth, I transitioned her to a new team in an emerging space.
I continue to mentor and learn from her today.
2 | Collaborate across teams
As teams expanded and platform frameworks matured, the organization became ready to take on more ambitious initiatives to streamline the program for customers.
We onboarded a senior designer to lead Employe Pulse, connecting across teams to address user needs and develop solutions.
We re-ignited the program simplification effort with another collaborative, user-centered workshop with representatives from across the product org.
The core team inspired empathy & collaboration throughout discovery
The core discovery team—a Product Manager, UX Designer, and UX Researcher—used a cross-functional workshop to build empathy and ownership over the complex problem space. The workshop assessed platform frameworks and product concepts against core challenges, sparking fresh ideas and connections. Over several quarters, the team collaborated to define, design, and deliver key program elements, continuously testing with customers.
This team set a standard for collaboration and user-centered design across the org. I looked for opportunities to champion their efforts and share their outcomes and approach for others to learn from, like this early progress update.
The designer developed as a leader through this work, shaping both the team & product outcomes
This ambitious project required the team to inform requirements and negotiate constraints with nearly every platform team in the portfolio. I worked with the design lead to help them navigate ambiguity in a way that aligned with their humble, reserved nature. They earned respect and trust across the organization for their collaborative approach and ability to use UX artifacts to bridge gaps in understanding. A magnet for others looking to develop leadership without being the loudest voice, their impact on the team and product earned them a promotion to Principal Designer.
Take a closer look at this UX architecture
The the new program framework launched, celebrating a true one team effort & customer win
The team maintained a high bar for customer validation at every milestone, ensuring a smooth public launch. The solution provided a step-by-step program administration experience and automation, reducing dependencies on costly implementation services. Our internal teams and partners estimated a 60% reduction in overhead, delivering value in days instead of months. The effort boosted customer satisfaction, increased engagement, and enabled expansion. This photo shows a buzzing product demo station where customers were self-exploring a product that previously required an expert to set up and explain. Happy customers. Happy team!
3 | Foster growth
Our organization restructured into product units led by a trio of Product, UX, and Engineering leads, promoting diverse perspectives and shared ownership.
We mirrored this leadership model within the EX product unit, reinforcing cross-functional collaboration and shared responsibility for customer outcomes. The Employee Pulse team continued to demonstrate effective collaboration, customer commitment, and ownership within their Program Foundations charter, with increased autonomy and accountability.
The team embraced their charter with new goals & ambitions
This transition was a somber time for the organization, as we had to say goodbye to many friends due to a new location strategy. We brought the new product unit together for an on-site, where teams took the lead in rebuilding under their new charters. Despite these challenges, the teams collaborated on setting goals, conducting retrospectives, and identifying necessary changes.
The UX Lead became a key champion for ease of use metrics
With the new operating model, the team focused on setting rigorous goals and accountability metrics. Using Golden Path dashboards, they tracked completion rates, identified root causes, and reported action plans during monthly reviews. The UX lead for EX Program Foundations took ownership of the 'Implement Engagement Program' workstream, crucial for addressing churn and renewal risks.
Embracing this challenge, the designer developed skills in product analytics, using them to guide the team in understanding key issues and driving actionable insights. For example, uncovering gaps between the first two steps led the team to audit and improve some critical error messaging. The designer then collaborated with a content designer to create a messaging library, scaling the learnings for future use.
As the UX team grew, the lead empowered the team with planning & mentorship support
As the team expanded in Seattle and Krakow, the UX lead for foundations supported me and their teammates by delegating work to junior designers and overseeing projects through completion. Their role was pivotal in fostering team growth and support while developing their own skills toward UX management. The team continues to drive simplification and innovation in the Employee Pulse program framework, with a new generation of contributors leading the next phase of growth.
Closing thoughts
This team's growth and collaboration not only left a lasting impact on customers, the organization, and each other, but also on me as a leader.
Employee Pulse product innovations empower customers to scale employee listening programs efficiently, while the business benefits from these investments as partners adapt their methodologies on this platform. The team continued charting the next phase of product growth, powered by more mature business and product usage data and emerging technologies in AI and LLM. Their collaboration, adaptability, and dedication drove this success.
This story is just a glimpse of the broader Employee Experience product unit’s growth.