Building Toward What's Next

UX leadership for the AI era

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Slide 1: Building Toward
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  1. Slide 1: Building Toward What's Next UX leadership for the AI era Aaron Tate Director of User Experience Design and Research, CHG Healthcare October 2026
  2. Slide 2: AI is changing how software 
 gets built, and the role of User Experience has to grow with it. The leaders who get this right will author the next role, not inherit it. This deck covers the foundation I built, the four investments that followed, and where the role goes next. UX leadership for the AI era 2/17
  3. Slide 3: The leaders that are ready for what’s next have been doing the work the whole time. At CHG I built a UX design and research function from a single hire, scaled it, and rebuilt it as conditions shifted underneath. I invested in foundations like a design system before AI made them essential infrastructure. Through all of it, I kept the user at the center of the products we build. That arc shaped the posture I am taking into the next chapter. UX leadership for the AI era 3/17
  4. Slide 4: 2 Part 2: Building a foundation The foundation that prepared us for the future CHG Healthcare, December 2017 to today. First UX hire to a 21-person organization. User Experience went from absent to integrated across our digital organization.
  5. Slide 5: CHG Healthcare - 2017 to Today Nine years at CHG: a foundation first, then four investments 2017 2019 2022 2025 - Q3 2025 - Q3/Q4 2026 - Q1 2026 - Q2-Q4 First UX hire, building CHG's first digital product. Shifted quickly to grow UX team to meet organizational needs. Team grows to 
 8 designers. 
 UX Research established as a distinct practice. Design system launched against organizational resistance, with no cross-functional resourcing. Continue to mature UX functions. Created the 
 year-long AI curriculum for 
 20 designers and researchers: AI fluency, designing for AI, foresight practice. AI-forward squad piloted: one UX Designer, one Product Manager, one Engineer. Rolling out across digital organization now. Organization at 21 people and NN/g Level 5. Design system modeled at $19M annual value across 7 products. Foundation AI Curriculum AI-Enabled Development Authored Experience Architect role, spanning discovery to front-end deployment. 
 AI-enabled development adopted by 75% of product teams. Foundation Foundation Design System Building a foundation Design System Experience Architect 5/17
  6. Slide 6: Building the Organization 21 $3.5M Annual budget: headcount, software, and operating expenses Building the function took four steps. I taught product, engineering, and executive audiences what UX does and where it fits in the software development lifecycle. I made the case for placing the user at the center of the products we build. I established User Research as its own function. And I grew people into their full potential. HIRING PHILOSOPHY I hire for growth mindset over raw talent. Talent without the right mindset erodes culture. Growth mindset, coached well, becomes the talent you actually want. Building a foundation 6/17
  7. Slide 7: UX Maturity · L1 to L5 L1 → L5 Nielsen Norman Group Stages of UX Maturity We used the Nielsen Norman Group stages of UX maturity as our baseline rubric for tracking how the function grew from Absent to Integrated. 
 After a recent assessment, we are at Level 5 today. UX is 
 pervasive across our digital organization and reaches 
 3 other parts of the business, for external 
 customers and internal teams alike. 
 Emergent 2 UX values are part of how 
 Functional and
 the company makes 
 promising decisions. Limited 1 Inconsistent Uneven Inefficient Haphazard Absent Aspirational Ignored Nonexistent Undiscovered Building a foundation 6 User-Driven 5 4 Structured Partly systematic Variably effective Integrated Comprehensive Pervasive Universal eloved Reproducible Habitual B https://www.nngroup.com/articles/ux-maturity-model/ 7/17
  8. Slide 8: 3 Part 3: Four investments for what's next Four investments, each building on the one before One long-arc investment in a UX function that compounds: people, then tools, process, and adaptability. Together they form one equation for being ready for what’s next.
  9. Slide 9: Case 1 of 4 AI Curriculum AI Curriculum Year-long internal AI curriculum for 20 designers and researchers. I created it and I lead it. Chapter 1: AI Fluency
 The skills designers and researchers need are shifting as fast as AI advances. I chose to grow the skills, knowledge, and capabilities of the team we have, ahead of the need, so every team member could thrive in a fast-evolving technology space. Chapter 2: Building for AI
 The first rule of how I build is to start with a capable team. AI fluency. Command line, prompting, agentic literacy. Designing for AI. Systems thinking, trust calibration, behavior specification. Chapter 3: Build for Future
 STEP 1: PEOPLE A capable team is what every later investment depends on. Four investments for what’s next ngoing foresight practice. ocus on systems and behavior, not ust screens. O F j 9/17
  10. Slide 10: Case 2 of 4 Design System Design System Foundational infrastructure to build with quality at speed Built to increase velocity and consistency. 
 Now required infrastructure for AI-enabled development. I directed the build of our Unified Design System to increase velocity and consistency across our products. AI made it required infrastructure. AI tools build from the context they are given and invent the rest, so the system now supplies that context. 90+
 components with usage guidance. tion Levels
 4 Adop STEP 2: TOOLS AND SYSTEMS Tools work when capable teams wield them, so I invest in the system and the people who use it together. Four investments for what’s next from tokens to advanced components. Multi-brand
 one component set, seven different brands. 250+
 design-language documents written for AI tools. 10/17
  11. Slide 11: Case 3 of 4 AI-Enabled Development AI Enabled Development Smaller teams, spec-driven development, and Product Design and Research in the room for the speed. Work now starts from a specification, and a first working version can exist within hours. I made sure Product Design and Research are active partners from that first specification. With product and engineering, we are building a practice that holds quality and user-centered design as the pace rises. STEP 3: PROCESS Speed holds when the process is designed before the volume arrives. Four investments for what’s next 11/17
  12. Slide 12: Case 4 of 4 Experience Architect Experience 
 Architect A new role for where product management, design, research, and engineering have blurred. I create roles for people with broad capability who adapt as the work changes. The Experience Architect has deep knowledge in Product Design and User Research and working capability in product management and front-end development, so one person can hold a journey together. Product managers keep the roadmap and backlog. The Experience Architect is accountable for the experience. STEP 4: ADAPTABILITY When the work changes shape, I build the role it needs and grow the team into it. Four investments for what’s next 12/17
  13. Slide 13: Impact Real Impact What this work has delivered, and what it should deliver next. People
 People
 Tools
 People
 Pro cess
 Adaptability
 People
 AI AI Curriculum Curriculum Design System AI Curriculum AI-E nabled Dev AI Curriculum Experience Architect AI Curriculum 20 AI designers fluent and designers and $19M 20 designers annual and value across 
 Adopted 20 designers by 75% andof teams. Four 20 designers disciplines andin one role researchersin researchers inaayear-long year-long researchers 7 products in from a faster, year-long researchers Timelines drop in afrom year-long weeks researchers that adapts as in a the work year-long and curriculum standardized front-end curriculum curriculum to hours. technology changes. curriculum Next:
 Next:
 Fluent, independent work with AI tools Advanced AI use that keeps growing Next:
 Next:
 Fluent, independent work AI toolswork Required infrastructure forwith AI-forward Next:
 Next:
 Fluent, independent work with AI tools Full impact measurem ent under wa y Next:
 Next:
 Fluent, independent with AI tools Fewer rework cycles,work coherent journe ys Measured Four investments for what’s next Measured Modeled Measured Measured Expe cted 13/17
  14. Slide 14: 4 Part 4: What Becomes Possible What twenty years tells me about the next ten How the investments compound, the principles underneath, and where I see the role of User Experience going.
  15. Slide 15: What I am Building Toward What I am building toward Four investments that compound, built in order. Each case added something the next one needed. A capable team can use good tools well. Good tools are what make a faster process safe. A designed process shows where an organization needs a role that does not exist yet. Together they position the team and the organization to adapt to whatever changes next. 01 People: AI Curriculum. A team equipped to thrive in a fast-evolving field. 
 02 Tools and systems: Design System. Infrastructure that carries quality at speed. 
 03 Process: AI-Enabled Development. A practice that keeps users central as time compresses. 
 04 Adaptability: Experience Architect. A role built for what the work needs next. READY FOR WHAT’S NEXT Whatever the technology does next, the team, the infrastructure, the process, and the role are in place to adapt. What Becomes Possible 15/17
  16. Slide 16: What I’m Building Toward User Experience will own judgment, taste, and quality as AI takes on more of the production. Quality at speed, for users who may be human or agentic. As AI takes on more of the production work, the Product Design role concentrates on three things. Judgment: deciding what is worth building, and whether a result is coherent, usable, and correct. Taste: knowing what good looks like and encoding it in standards that people and AI tools both build from. Quality: holding the bar as the volume of work grows. The user, human or agentic, stays at the center of what we create. BUILT TO KEEP ADAPTING The tools will keep changing. A capable team, sound infrastructure, a designed process, and room to pioneer new roles let the function change with them. What Becomes Possible 16/17
  17. Slide 17: Connect Thank You. Let’s connect. Email: aarontate@me.com Web: buildingtowardwhatsnext.com LinkedIn: /in/aarontatertot End 17/17
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