Jillian Hudson Gems: Surviving UX Democratization Gone Wrong
I had a great conversation with Jillian Hudson on Corporate Underpants Live about a real-life UX disaster—a project completely clobbered by politics, misalignment, and a tornado of well-intentioned but untrained “UX” efforts. Sound familiar?
Corporate Underpants is all about experience by osmosis—so you can absorb the lessons without having to suffer through the mess yourself. Jillian’s story is packed with 7 gems that will help you navigate (or completely avoid) the same fate. Here’s what we learned:
💎 1. UX Without Evangelism is Just a Checkbox
Jillian joined a company expecting to support and grow UX research efforts. Instead, she found herself in a stealth UX department that had been siloed for years. No one outside the team even knew they existed. Lesson: If you want UX to matter, it has to be visible, valuable, and evangelized across the organization. If no one knows UX exists, it might as well not.
💎 2. Transparency Creates UX Champions
Rather than keeping research insights locked in UX circles, Jillian invited everyone to observe her research sessions and results presentations—product managers, engineers, business stakeholders. That openness led to her first major ally: the VP of Operations, who had no idea UX was even a thing until he saw it in action. Lesson: Radical transparency in UX isn’t just about sharing findings—it’s about creating allies who will fight for UX when you’re not in the room.
💎 3. UX Titles Mean Nothing if Power Lives Elsewhere
On paper, the company had a UX team. In reality, product managers, engineers, and business leaders were the ones defining user needs and feature priorities—often without UX involvement. Lesson: Having a UX team in name only doesn’t mean UX has influence. If critical product decisions are happening without UX at the table, you’re already in trouble.
💎 4. The Business Will Always Speak the Language of Money
Jillian’s company made chaotic decisions driven by one thing: stock price. Layoffs, spin-offs, shifting priorities—it was all about short-term financial impact, not user experience. Lesson: UX maturity doesn’t just depend on UX teams. If leadership is focused purely on financial optics, you need to frame UX in business terms (revenue impact, retention, reduced customer support costs) or risk being ignored.
💎 5. Democratization Without Education is a Disaster
With no formal UX leadership, product teams filled the void, running DIY usability studies and making wild, uninformed product decisions based on bad research. Lesson: UX democratization isn’t inherently bad—but only if it comes with training. If untrained teams are making UX calls, their decisions will create more harm than good.
💎 6. Building a UX Culture Starts with a Simple Question
Jillian didn’t declare herself the savior of UX—she built credibility by asking a simple question: ➡️ “How can I help you?” By positioning herself as a partner, not a gatekeeper, she slowly built trust, influence, and credibility—turning former bottlenecks into UX champions. Lesson: If you want to build a UX culture from scratch, start by being genuinely useful.
💎 7. Look for Leaders Who “Get It” and Work With Them First
Instead of trying to change minds at the C-level right away, Jillian found her first UX ally in middle management—a VP who was excited about what she was doing. That led to more opportunities and a gradual shift in UX perception across the company. Lesson: Start where you have traction. Find one leader who values UX and use their influence to open doors.
Final Thought: You Can Control the Weather
Jillian’s story is proof that you don’t have to be a victim of UX chaos. You can spot these issues early (even during job interviews), build influence, and turn misalignment into momentum—without waiting for leadership to suddenly "get" UX.
💬 Which of these gems hits home for you? Have you been in a UX tornado like this? Drop your war stories in the comments!
#CorporateUnderpantsLive #UXLeadership #UXDemocratization #ProductManagement #corporateUnderpantsGems
