Experience Architech
Designing a UX operating system that turns methodology into a strategic advantage.
The Problem
UX teams run their work across a fragmented stack: Figma, Dovetail, Maze, Notion, Jira, Miro. Each tool covers one slice of the job. None connects research, strategy, design, validation and follow-up, and none tells a team which method actually fits the project in front of them.
The result: process choice is left to habit or seniority, insights get lost between tools, and business stakeholders see UX activity rather than UX outcomes.
Why it matters. AI tools now help teams produce faster, but not decide better. Without a structured way to choose and apply methods, UX stays perceived as a cost centre instead of a business lever, and design maturity stalls.
The Challenge
How might we help UX teams pick, adapt and apply the right method for every project, as easily as scheduling a meeting, while giving business stakeholders clear, shared visibility on progress and impact?
Flexibility vs. consistency: full-scale frameworks slow creative flow; ad-hoc approaches destroy repeatability, transparency and auditability.
Tool fragmentation: no connective tissue between the research repository, design files and the delivery backlog.
Method literacy: juniors don’t know which method to use, or why. Seniors carry that knowledge in their heads.
Business alignment: stakeholders lack a shared language and a single view of UX progress.
Kick-off friction: projects lose days defining scope and approach before any research begins.
Objectives
Clarity: recommend the right UX method for each project, and explain why.
Speed: move from kick-off to first validated insights in 1–3 days.
Visibility: one workspace from research to handover, readable by design and business alike.
Consistency: repeatable, auditable processes without rigidity.
Maturity: help teams learn the “why” behind each method as they work.
My Role
UX Lead, Founder & Problem Owner. I defined the product vision, product and information architecture, the AI co-pilot experience, the brand and design system, the MVP scope and the go-to-market narrative.
Core team: Sheila (Business Design & CX Strategy), Daniiar (Audience & Communications), Yoush (Technical Feasibility & Prototyping).
Hypotheses
Lightweight tooling reduces friction and boosts performance in small-to-medium projects.
Tailored frameworks shorten time-to-market without compromising quality.
Adaptive processes cut audit costs while keeping outcomes predictable.
Design maturity accelerates when friction is removed at project kick-off.
Process: Think, Make, Check
THINK — Competitive analysis of the UX tool landscape (Dovetail, Maze, Notion, Jira, Miro, Figma AI, Galileo AI, Uizard). Framed the gap: tools cover outputs, none covers method choice. Defined two leadership personas: The Orchestrator, a design leader running multiple teams, and The Portfolio Navigator, an executive tracking UX across a product portfolio.
MAKE — Product architecture, IA and core flows; AI-first onboarding; interactive HTML prototypes for stakeholder review and developer handoff; a premium design system (deep navy, electric cyan, vivid purple, aurora gradients, glassmorphism).
CHECK — Community validation through The Unsolved Problem, a 30-minute interactive session format designed to remove passive participation and surface real practitioner challenges. Early desirability signals feed the MVP backlog.
The Solution
Experience Architech is a UX operating system with methodology intelligence at its core.
Project Dashboard: every active UX project, milestone and status in one view.
Process Builder: create and adapt workflows such as Design Thinking, Lean UX and Double Diamond.
Research & Insights Hub: personas, journeys and usability findings in one repository.
Team Collaboration: roles, contributions and communication in context.
Reporting & Handover: outcomes exported in a format business stakeholders can act on.
Zéké, the AI co-pilot. A conversational guide with a warm, Brazilian-inspired personality: happy, but professional. Zéké welcomes users, recommends the right method for the project and explains why, then drafts the first artefacts.
Quick Win Workflow. A 1–3 day methodology across Discovery, Synthesis and Validation, producing three ready-to-share artefacts: a Research Brief, an Insights Report and an Action Plan.
Inside the Product
A walkthrough of the MVP interface, from first conversation to shared outcomes:
AI-first home: Zéké opens every session with a single question, “What would you like to create today?”, plus shortcuts to journeys, personas, Lean Canvas and value propositions.
Zéké in action: a prompt becomes an editable User Journey Map, structured by phase, actions, thoughts, emotions and pain points.
Project Workflow: every project follows Problem Statement, Think, Make and Check, with Zéké auto-filling challenges from project knowledge.
Personas: guided, step-by-step persona creation with Zéké as a side-panel co-pilot.
Dashboard: recent projects, progress and team notifications at a glance.
Key Design Decisions
Methodology intelligence is the moat. Not UI, not feature breadth. Design tools can add features; they can’t easily replicate method guidance.
AI-first onboarding. Starting with a conversation instead of an empty dashboard reduces cognitive load and makes the first five minutes useful.
Human in the loop. Zéké’s outputs are strong first drafts, never final. A human review gate is built into the flow: senior audiences disengage the moment copy feels synthetic.
Designed for leaders, usable by practitioners. Positioning targets the people who own UX outcomes, while the daily workflow serves the whole team.
Defensible claims only. Impact figures are pressure-tested ranges, not headline numbers.
Impact on the UX Process
Kick-off in hours, not days: Zéké proposes a method and a plan in the first session.
First validated insights in 1–3 days through the Quick Win Workflow.
One source of truth from research to handover: fewer lost insights, less rework.
Repeatable without rigidity: consistent, auditable methods that adapt to each project.
Faster design maturity: practitioners learn the “why” behind each method while they work.
Impact on Business Alignment
Shared visibility: dashboards and exports written in business language.
Traceable decisions: every design decision linked back to evidence and expected outcome.
UX as a lever, not a cost: modelled economics, to be validated in pilots, point to a 60–85% reduction in process overhead, 200–300% typical ROI and a 6–8 week payback.
Success Criteria
Validation phase targets:
10 designers engaged or pre-registered
1 validated need statement
A clear “problem worth solving” summary
1 prototype ready for the next sandbox round
Early qualitative feedback showing desirability
Status & Outcome
The MVP is in development (Next.js, Supabase and a Claude-powered Zéké). Next come more community sessions (Defend the Position, Fix It Live), then visual collaboration frameworks, feature-team workflows, PI Planning documentation, richer exports and templates.
Experience Architech reframes UX process from a constraint into a strategic advantage: teams start with clarity, move with confidence, and show the business exactly what UX delivers.