Manager actions
Transforming the product and team: A journey from widget to user-centered workflow
In late 2018, I stepped in to lead the EX product area, where there were no designers, and UX maturity was low. Over the next five years, we evolved our processes and built a team that transformed the product into an AI-driven, user-centered pillar of the business. Their efforts elevated the user experience and set new standards for impact and innovation across the organization.
1 | Evolving the process
Feature development was shaped by client requests, too often missing the root problem and complicating the user experience.
In this case, customers found work-arounds to support managers through the action planning process. Facing renewal risk, we were tasked to solve in product before the upcoming marketing event in 4 months.
The team was anxious to execute, but we were missing a key perspective - what do managers actually need?
Re-framing the problem
I collaborated with a UX researcher to explore the problem from the manager's perspective, revisiting existing user research and conducting interviews with managers, customers, and internal stakeholders. Our insights revealed that an effective solution needed to seamlessly integrate action planning guidance into the analysis workflow.
Exploring solutions
We focused the solution space on connecting insight to action, re-flowing the manager workflow, and establishing a more extensible UI framework to accommodate inline guidance.
Delivering a user-centric MVP
By integrating action planning into the manager's workflow, we made it easier to create and complete plans while emphasizing the 'why' and 'how' behind results. This was achieved through a cross-functional effort, ensuring a deep understanding of end-user needs. Our team designed a user-centered admin interface that supported customers, partners, and end-users alike. We proudly unveiled this innovation on the Employee Experience Main stage at X4—marking just the beginning of our journey.
We got here in 6 weeks.
2 | Growing the team
In the following months, the organization grew globally, and I led a team to refine action planning with a user-centric, cross-functional approach.
Through this next phase of growth, I led a cross-disciplinary UX team of 8, with direct management of 4 designers.
Hiring & developing the team
My first hire, a junior designer, took ownership of enhancing the action planning experience, collaborating closely with engineering to design and implement UI components that improved accessibility and responsiveness. Her initiative led to key features that significantly enhanced the user experience, while also developing her skills in cross-functional collaboration, problem-solving, and UX design execution—laying a strong foundation for her growth.
Inspiring a user-centric vision
We brought on a mid-level user researcher, reporting to my UXR colleague, to inform a broader vision for managers. The research team evaluated our v1 product, tested concepts with users, and led a workshop with internal I/O psychology experts, identifying key gaps and opportunities. My design team then translated these insights into a user-centered vision, shaping a more comprehensive product strategy.
Empowering collaborative prototyping team
With a validated roadmap, we prepared for the next X4 customer event by creating prototypes that highlighted manager-centric solutions. I led a team of four designers, assigning each team member ownership of a key part of the overall narrative. This empowered them to apply their unique strengths, develop new skills, and learn from one another's expertise. Their collaborative efforts not only brought the vision to life but also fostered individual growth and a stronger team dynamic as we worked toward a common goal.
3 | Expanding the platform
As we introduced more manager-optimized solutions, the builder-centric platform became increasingly complex for builders and end-users alike.
To address this, we introduced standalone, purpose-built apps for end-users, like managers, to simplify their experience.
Leading the work & managing the team
I developed a cross-functional UX team to create a cohesive experience for managers. We hired a content designer to shape the site structure and narrative, collaborating with a research partner to refine taxonomy and tone. As our first purpose-built solution, we simultaneously defined system-level components and frameworks. I led the cross-team coordination with design systems and other app teams to keep our workstreams aligned.
Celebrating a unified team effort
Manager Assist launched in late 2022, empowering thousands of managers to listen, understand, and act on team feedback without requiring extensive HR resources or training. This effort brought together designers, researchers, and content designers, in collaboration with product, marketing, engineering, and UX systems teams, paving the way for future purpose-built experiences within the Qualtrics product family.
Disrupting the status quo
At X4 2023, we launched an intuitive experience for managers and unveiled our direction in behavioral analytics and AI-driven action recommendations, including the acquisition of Autumn, a Canadian startup focused on real-time well-being insights. With the integration of new team members, we adapted working norms and processes that challenged the more rigid waterfall planning cycles previously used at Qualtrics.
Our next phase focuses on integrating behavioral data and AI insights with employee engagement, fostering a culture of rapid iteration and experimentation.
4| Embracing AI
Emerging AI technologies and unstructured behavioral data unlocked innovative solutions for our customers while introducing new challenges for our teams.
How might real-time behavioral data and the power of AI shape the product vision?
Following the acquisition of Autumn, we established two parallel workstreams: one refining traditional Employee Engagement and the other exploring real-time behavioral data. To foster team autonomy under a unified vision, I initiated a workshop to explore connections, unmet needs, and opportunities.
Shaping an AI-inspired product vision around validated user needs
The workshop was guided by quantitative and qualitative persona research from a Senior User Researcher and co-led by a content designer, fostering a cross-functional group to explore the opportunity space from multiple perspectives.
The outcomes were summarized in a share-out deck, which teams referenced over the following months as they independently explored and evaluated aspects of the vision.
Adapting processes for more rapid iteration & AI exploration
I advised the newly acquired product team on leveraging established norms, while empowering each member to adapt or skip elements that hindered rapid iteration and experimentation. We developed a flexible resourcing and collaboration model for user research and design initiatives, which allowed the team to work more fluidly and leverage their unique strengths in driving innovation.
Championing ethical AI design
As the product team explored behavioral metrics and AI applications, the UX team raised concerns about AI ethics and user privacy—issues that soon resonated with customers. I escalated these risks to leadership and empowered my team to lead UX-driven initiatives. What began as a grassroots effort grew into a UX-led AI committee, shaping the Qualtrics Code of Ethics and establishing a resource hub for ethical AI design.
Today, AI is integrated across problem spaces, with the UX team equipped to propose ethical, explainable solutions.
5 | Scaling UX impact
Over this 5-year journey, we made remarkable progress in building a compassionate, collaborative team and delivering real value for our customers and the business.
I'm especially proud of the teams we developed, the human-centered norms we established, and the lives we touched through meaningful product innovation. This journey reflects how far we have come from a reactive, widget-focused product with a single UX designer to a thriving, user-centered organization. To conclude, I’m proud to share these key achievements that scaled our impact across the organization:
Forming cross-functional pods
By 2024, Manager Actions fit within one of five product pods, where cross-functional “PXE” teams (Product, UX, and Engineering) work collaboratively with autonomy and accountability. I led UX for the product unit, overseeing a team of 11 designers and researchers.
Operationalizing HCD milestones
Human Centered Design (HCD) milestones are used in quarterly planning cycles as a structured yet flexible framework to enable user-centric iteration and alignment. I worked across the PXE org to define, operationalize and adopt a more human-centered approach.
Sponsoring golden path metrics
As the organization matured, we established Ease of Use metrics to further drive UX product investment and accountability. I serve as the PXE leadership sponsor for Golden Paths across the portfolio, a key ease of use metric and early indicator of churn and renewal risks.
Thank you!
This story is just a glimpse of the broader Employee Experience product unit’s growth. Interested in learning more?