Arrow Digital: Building a UX Practice from the Ground Up

When I joined Arrow Digital, the company was a small engineering-led consultancy. The team delivered technically strong solutions, but requirements focused on system capabilities rather than the people using them.

Over the next seven years, I built a human-centered design practice that changed how we scoped, designed, and delivered software. We grew from one junior graphic designer to a team of about 15 designers who were embedded in every major engagement. UX became part of our proposal strategy, our delivery lifecycle, and our identity in the market.

Without structured discovery, teams struggled to anticipate user needs early. That led to:

• Scope changes late in development
• Rework that pushed budgets and timelines
• Solutions that missed key workflow realities

To scale confidently, we needed a repeatable UX process that aligned user needs with technical strategy from the start.

I introduced a UX Discovery Framework grounded in Design Thinking and Human-Centered Design. This focused on the Empathize and Define phases where the foundation of every product is set.

Discovery emphasized four dimensions:

To operationalize the process, I built a library of reusable tools and templates including interview guides, stakeholder maps, co-creation workshop materials, heuristic evaluation worksheets, comparative analysis formats, and discovery checklists. These helped teams communicate insights clearly and take smarter action faster.

Engineering was involved early. We reviewed workflows and technical constraints together so solutions landed cleanly and rework was rare.

We built the discovery work into proposals, planning, and design delivery, so every engagement started with evidence and empathy. Clients got clearer scopes. Developers worked from validated requirements. Designers grounded solutions in real needs. Quality went up. So did our reputation.

As the process proved its value, demand grew quickly:

• The design team expanded to roughly 15 UX practitioners
• UX became 20 percent of overall project budgets
• Discovery was included in every major proposal and engagement
• Four designers I mentored moved into senior or manager roles
• Our SDLC grew more complete and mature as UX became standard

Engineers began referencing UX workflows in planning. Product managers aligned vision through design. Sales featured UX to win competitive work.

UX became how Arrow Digital delivered.

With better discovery and alignment:

• Late-stage scope changes dropped significantly
• Projects stayed on budget and delivered with fewer surprises
• Project sizes grew 5 to 10 times, driven by stronger strategic collaboration
• Clients brought us in earlier and trusted us with more complex challenges

One client told us they selected Arrow because we understood both the technology and the people relying on it.

This credibility contributed to the company’s growth from 12 to more than 200 employees and played a role in Arrow Digital’s acquisition by Cognizant.

Building a UX discipline inside a fast-growing engineering organization taught me that design leadership is not just about screens. It is about shaping processes, developing people, and building systems that help teams deliver solutions that work in the real world.

The most rewarding outcome was seeing UX become something everyone owned.