Situation

At both Blackboard and the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), teams were delivering products without a customer-first mentality—either unaware of users’ needs or lacking consistent exposure to actual user experience insights.

Obstacle

Inexperienced teams struggled to integrate user-centered practices: UX training wasn’t embedded in processes, and product decisions favored new features over improving what existed.

Action

Since training has been an emphasis on many teams I work with, the following examples showcase how training impacted a specific organization:

<ul>
	<li><img src="/img/portfolio/training.png" alt="on-demand training example" align="right" style="width: 50%;"><strong>Blackboard:</strong> Developed and mandated a UX certification program for product teams, combined with hands-on onboarding to usability testing and research. Led annual user conferences to immerse participants in dozens of live usability studies.</li>
	<li><img src="/img/portfolio/training1.jpg" alt="in classroom training scene" align="left" style="width: 50%;"><strong>CMS:</strong> Designed and delivered a multi-modal training curriculum for hundreds, covering design thinking, journey mapping, personas, CX metrics, backlog prioritization, and Lean UX practices. Transitioned to virtual and on-demand formats to scale reach and reduce costs. Launched distinct learning tracks for design, research, and management.</li>
</ul>

Result

These trainings, delivered to over 1500 employees, earned top participant ratings and shifted team behaviors: designers, developers, and the rest of the business now regularly prioritize design thinking, user insights and empathy-driven decision making, resulting in more impactful and user-centric product outcomes, as elaborated in the following video (see 55s mark) promoting the Center of Excellence:

Reflection

Embedding UX expertise through scalable training transforms organizational culture—equipping everyone to own the customer experience, not just specialists, and ensuring continuous improvement long after the session ends.