Practical Framework for teams and leaders to advance UX excellence.
I’ve had the opportunity to build a design practice from the ground up multiple times throughout my career. These experiences taught me that a pragmatic approach is essential for making UX a key driver of business impact. This journey combines short-term wins with a long-term vision, requiring ongoing assessment of team maturity and strategic progression with plenty of learning along the way.
Stages of UX Maturity
There are several models for UX maturity with different names and number of stages:
- Jakob Nielsen’s 6-stage model (originally 8 stages in 2006):
Absent › Limited › Emergent › Structured › Integrated › User-driven - Lorraine Chapman & Scott Plewes’ 5-stage model, focused on organizational characteristics beyond individual talent:
Beginning › Awareness › Adopting › Realizing › Exceptional - Chris Avore’s 4-stage model:
Laggard › Early › Progressing › Mature(Modern) - Design Management Institute’s 5-stage model:
Initial › Repeatable › Defined › Managed › Optimized
Although each model differs in terminology, fundamentally, they all share a similar spectrum: from ad hoc or absent UX to a fully embedded, vision-guiding function within the organization. Maturity involves building a UX team, fostering a supportive culture, and establishing data-driven processes that drive measurable results.
Drawing on my 20 years of experience, insights from surveys, inspiration from the models mentioned above, and discussions with other design leaders, I developed a streamlined framework designed to resonate with non-design leaders, especially in enterprise and SaaS organizations. This framework emphasizes key aspects of UX presence, processes, culture, and outcomes, and outlines strategies to advance maturity at each stage.
| Stage | 1 Preliminary | 2 Functional | 3 Integrated | 4 Strategic | 5 Visionary |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Attributes | Reactive, Basic, Visually oriented | Organized, Developing, Collaborative | Embedded, Aligned, Data-driven | Aligned, Influential, Business-centered, Innovative | Proactive, Transformative, Industry-leading |
| Presence | Minimal, ad-hoc, or absent; typically only brought in to polish the interface. | Small UX team, involved early in development but not yet influential in strategic decisions | UX embedded in cross-functional teams, with active collaboration across product, engineering, marketing, and sales. | UX has executive visibility and significant influence in strategic initiatives; a core component of product strategy. | UX is a proactive, guiding function that drives innovation and explores new business opportunities. |
| Processes | Minimal or no standardized UX processes. | Basic processes are in place, focusing on consistent outputs; early design systems may exist. | Advanced processes that incorporate user research and design systems; UX influences roadmap decisions. | Mature, with UX KPIs that align closely with broader business goals; refined design systems and continuous improvements. | Habitual, with highly advanced systems continuously evolving to meet strategic and industry-leading goals. |
| Culture | Limited understanding of UX; mostly focused on aesthetics. | Emerging awareness of UX; teams recognize value beyond aesthetics. | UX principles are adopted as a part of core practices across teams. | Teams view UX as integral to achieving business objectives. | UX is universally respected and often leads industry trends. |
| Outcome | Superficial improvements, lack cohesion and focus. | Functional and promising, but often inconsistent and siloed. | Standardized and effective, with UX becoming a key component in decision-making. | KPI-driven, effective, and often a source of innovation within the organization. | Transformative and beloved by users; UX drives both company growth and industry influence. |
| Strategy | Deliver quick, high-impact UX wins to showcase UX value, build awareness, and establish a foundation for credibility. | Drive UX awareness through educational efforts, develop collaborative processes, introduce foundational user research, and showcase value through case studies. | Lead data-informed decision-making, secure executive buy-in, and set UX KPIs that align with core business goals. | Create a shared UX vision that aligns with company goals, secure lasting executive support, and prioritize cross-functional UX initiatives. | Regularly evaluate UX initiatives for goal alignment, invest in ongoing innovation, and position UX as an industry leader. |
How to Assess Maturity
Tools like the Nielsen Norman Group’s Maturity Quiz can provide a baseline for UX maturity by examining UX output, processes, tools, and practices. However, quiz-based methods can be biased by individual roles—such as research, leadership, or design—which often skew assessments toward a higher maturity level (source: NNG).
For a more comprehensive and balanced evaluation, consider engaging an outside firm or adopting a process like mine, which involves interviews with UX teams, stakeholders, and cross-functional partners. This approach balances team perspectives with broader organizational insights. Contact me if you’d like help assessing your organization’s UX maturity based on the model above.
Strategies to Drive Maturity
Here are some strategies an organization can adopt to gradually advance their UX maturity, cultivating a user-centered approach that drives product excellence and business success.
- Educate and Advocate for UX Value: Build a foundation by emphasizing UX as a strategic driver of customer and business value. Share stories of how UX impacts satisfaction and metrics like NPS, customer lifetime value, etc.
- Strategic Resource Planning: Plan for evolving needs by anticipating future skills and technology requirements. Investing in the right talent and tools from the start demonstrates a commitment to meaningful UX impact.
- Embed UX Early in Product Planning: Move UX from a reactive function to an integrated practice by involving it in early product decisions, much before the actual execution. This ensures alignment with broader goals.
- Establish UX Leadership and Governance: Strong governance keeps UX initiatives aligned and goal-oriented. Define clear roles, responsibilities, and executive oversight to embed UX as a strategic business partner with the authority to influence product roadmaps and design standards.
- Build a Culture that Champions UX: Promote a user-centric mindset across all teams. Reinforce UX as a driver of innovation, creating a culture where design thinking and user empathy are valued at every level.
- Maintain Continuous Improvement and Agility: Make improvement a core part of UX strategy, ensure processes, tools, and techniques evolve in response to user needs, and adapt quickly to keep the user experience relevant and impactful.
- Align UX Metrics with Business Outcomes: Use outcome-based metrics like task completion rates, satisfaction scores, and retention to quantify UX contributions to business goals. These measurements provide insights into how UX adds value, building momentum for executive support and resource investment.
- Center on User Research and Testing: Establish ongoing research to inform design decisions, continuous discovery and improve product relevance at each stage.
- Develop Cross-Functional Partnerships: Develop collaboration with product, engineering, marketing, sales, and support teams to create holistic, user-focused products. Encourage regular check-ins and two-way communication to share learnings and align on goals.
- Create a Shared UX Vision Aligned with Strategy: Define a UX vision that aligns with the company’s strategic goals. By prioritizing initiatives around this vision, you position UX as essential to long-term business growth and an industry-leading differentiator.
Mistakes and Lessons
Advancing UX maturity requires learning from challenges and adjusting the approach on an ongoing basis. Building cross-functional relationships and gaining executive buy-in takes sustained effort. Here are a few lessons I’ve learned along the way, highlighting the importance of timing, balancing resources, and navigating priorities at each stage of UX maturity.
Resources
Resource constraints challenge UX leaders at every stage. Early on, in the Preliminary or Functional stages, it’s often about making the most of limited resources by prioritizing high-impact projects that demonstrate immediate value. Resource needs become more specialized as teams mature to the Integrated and Strategic stages.
I once faced delays in an analytics-heavy project because we didn’t anticipate the need for in-house UX analytical expertise, which taught me an important lesson in planning with foresight. Mature UX teams should remain balanced and adaptive, forecasting skill and resource needs months ahead to maintain momentum.
Short-Term vs Long-Term Goals
One of the most valuable lessons in my UX career has been balancing immediate wins with a long-term vision. At BrightEdge, early on, we focused on short-term wins to prove value, but this led to delayed strategic initiatives. I learned to shift toward a vision-aligned approach. Later, overemphasizing long-term goals caused short-term KPIs to dip. The lesson? Achieving sustainable growth requires carving out time for innovation while ensuring enough work goes live to impact short- and medium-term business goals. Balancing these is an ongoing exercise in making allocations that deliver the best ROI.
Timing
Knowing when to act is crucial in advancing UX. For instance, at BrightEdge, we were in a pivotal phase of improving the UX reputation. I needed to demonstrate quick wins without committing large resources upfront—this approach was essential for gaining initial buy-in. However, I’ve also led a premature UX innovation that users liked but didn’t yet align with our revenue goals, resulting in wasted resources. Timing is especially critical as you move from Strategic to Visionary stages, where aligning UX goals with market readiness ensures that resources are maximized and executive confidence remains high.
Regular Assessment
Evaluating UX maturity isn’t a one-time task; it requires periodic check-ins to guide strategic adjustments. I’ve found that monthly and quarterly assessments provide a grounded sense of where we stand and where we need to go next. For example, in the Strategic stage, I worked closely with cross-functional teams to develop UX KPIs aligned with broader business goals, adjusting strategies quarterly to ensure these goals were met. Regular, intentional assessments allow UX maturity to stay aligned with business objectives, building UX as an adaptable, valuable function.
Conclusion
Guiding UX maturity is a continuous journey. Each stage, from Preliminary to Visionary, requires adaptability, strategic planning, and a steady focus on building lasting impact. As I’ve learned, growing UX maturity is not just about securing resources or buy-in—it’s about establishing a collaborative, innovative culture that aligns UX with business success. I hope this blog inspires you to view UX maturity as a strategic tool for positioning UX as a driving force in your organization. Through regular assessment and intentional planning, you can elevate your team’s impact and ensure UX earns a lasting seat at the table.
Also available at https://www.linkedin.com/