When I first started building the UX practice, the ambition was not to create a large team.
It was to create a place where good design could influence meaningful decisions, where people could grow, and where user experience could become part of how the organisation worked rather than something added at the end of a project.
Like many growing practices, we started with a small group of people, limited influence, and a great deal to prove.
UX was often understood as the visual layer of a product. Teams came to us when they needed screens, improvements, or help making an interface look more polished. But the problems we were seeing were rarely only visual. They were connected to unclear requirements, fragmented journeys, technology constraints, operational realities, and decisions made without enough understanding of the people affected.
We knew that creating better screens would not be enough.
We needed to build trust.
Growing through the work
The practice grew gradually, one project and one relationship at a time.
Every engagement became an opportunity to demonstrate what UX could contribute. We listened carefully, asked difficult questions, brought users closer to the process, and helped teams see problems from a different perspective.
Some projects improved everyday employee experiences. Others simplified complex operational journeys or established foundations that could support multiple digital products. Along the way, UX began to move beyond individual interfaces and contribute to product direction, research, governance, accessibility, design systems, and enterprise transformation.
The growth was not always smooth.
There were moments when expectations were unclear, when teams were under pressure, and when UX had to earn its place in conversations that had traditionally been led by business or technology alone.
Those moments taught us something important: influence does not come from job titles or processes. It comes from helping people solve real problems and consistently making the work better.
Building people, not only a practice
As the team expanded, my role began to change.
I could no longer stay close to every design decision. The practice would only scale if more people felt confident making decisions, leading conversations, and supporting others.
That became one of the most rewarding parts of the journey.
Talented designers grew into leads. Specialists became trusted advisors. People who initially waited for direction began setting standards, challenging assumptions, and representing UX with confidence across the organisation.
Leadership was not about giving people all the answers. It was about creating the environment in which they could find their own voice.
That meant giving people meaningful responsibility, supporting them when things became difficult, and allowing them enough space to learn through experience. It also meant recognising that not everyone grows in the same way. Some needed greater visibility. Others needed reassurance, a new challenge, or simply someone who believed they were ready before they believed it themselves.
Over time, the practice became much bigger than any one person.
That was the point.
Creating the foundations for scale
As more teams began working with UX, informal ways of working were no longer enough.
We needed stronger foundations.
We introduced clearer roles, research practices, reusable design standards, governance, accessibility thinking, and a scalable design system. We created more consistency while still giving teams room to solve the needs of their products and users.
These foundations helped the team move beyond reacting to project requests. UX could now contribute earlier, shape priorities, and support more parts of the organisation without compromising the quality of the work.
But frameworks and systems alone did not create the practice.
People did.
The strongest foundations were the relationships between designers, researchers, engineers, product teams, business leaders, and the users who trusted us with their experiences.
What success began to mean
For a long time, growth was easy to measure through numbers: more people, more products, more projects, and a wider organisational reach.
But the most meaningful signs of progress were often quieter.
A designer confidently leading a difficult workshop.
A team involving users before committing to a solution.
A product leader asking better questions.
A new manager supporting the growth of others.
A design decision being made because it improved someone’s experience, not because it was the easiest option to deliver.
These moments showed that UX was no longer dependent on a small group advocating for it. The capability had begun to live within the organisation.
What the journey taught me
Building an enterprise UX practice taught me that capability does not scale through processes alone.
It scales through people who feel trusted, supported, and connected to a shared purpose.
The responsibility of a leader is not to remain at the centre of everything. It is to help others become capable of leading without you.
Looking back, I am proud of the products we helped shape and the foundations we established. But I am most proud of the people who grew through the journey: the designers who became leaders, the teams who changed how they approached problems, and the individuals who discovered how much influence they could have.
The greatest outcome was not simply that the UX practice became larger.
It was that more people became ready to take it forward.