This case study explores the development of Culture Sense, a tool that enables Novartis Executive Community (ECN) and senior leadership to track and analyze cultural transformation. By leveraging AI and behavioral analytics, Culture Sense offers transparency and clarity on key performance indicators (KPIs) related to organizational culture. Our approach followed a user-centric design thinking methodology to ensure an intuitive and seamless experience, enabling leaders to correlate cultural changes with business performance.
My Role: Lead UX Strategist
Engagement Time:
12 months ~
The Problem
The primary challenge was designing a solution that met the needs of senior executives, who have:
- Limited time but need access to culture metrics efficiently.
- A need for clear insights to understand culture adoption across the organization.
- A way to correlate cultural shifts with performance outcomes and shape strategic interventions.
Additionally, we had to ensure the solution:
- A need for clear insights to understand culture adoption across the organization.
- A way to correlate cultural shifts with performance outcomes and shape strategic interventions.
Additionally, we had to ensure the solution:
- Felt lightweight and easy to use, despite handling complex data.
- Provided an intuitive storytelling approach rather than overwhelming users with raw analytics.
- Integrated seamlessly within Novartis’ existing enterprise applications.
- Provided an intuitive storytelling approach rather than overwhelming users with raw analytics.
- Integrated seamlessly within Novartis’ existing enterprise applications.
Methodology and Approach
First Attempts
Following the 5-phase Design Thinking framework, we conducted initial research through user interviews to understand:
- How leaders prefer to consume data (exploratory vs. guided insights).
- Usage frequency and device preferences to optimize accessibility.
- Time constraints to ensure quick and meaningful interactions.
This informed our initial prototype, which was designed around a storytelling approach—simplifying data visualization while still providing depth for further exploration.
Take 2
To refine the user experience, we leveraged WADS (Web App Design System for Novartis), which allowed us to:
- Utilize reusable UI components for consistency and scalability.
- Maintain design alignment with Novartis’ internal web applications.
- Enhance navigation simplicity by removing distractions and creating a seamless experience.
Incremental delivery approach
Insights from User Testing Sessions
Through multiple rounds of testing, we gained key insights:
1. Transparency and clarity are critical—Users expect clear, easy-to-understand insights when analyzing culture-related data.
2. Comparative framing is essential—People make sense of their progress by comparing changes over time or against benchmarks.
3. The value of data is in its storytelling—A well-structured narrative is more impactful than raw statistics.
To address these insights, we refined the interface by:
- Presenting data-driven stories rather than overwhelming users with numbers.
- Creating guided experiences with step-by-step insights.
- Offering customizable comparison views to help users draw meaningful conclusions
- Creating guided experiences with step-by-step insights.
- Offering customizable comparison views to help users draw meaningful conclusions
Overall Results
By implementing a user-centric approach, we achieved:
✅ A seamless integration with Novartis’ enterprise suite.
✅ A lightweight, intuitive navigation tailored to senior leadership.
✅ A framework that enables leaders to draw insights, form hypotheses, and track cultural transformation effectively.
✅ Increased engagement from executives due to the clarity and simplicity of insights provided.
Key Takeaways
1. User focus and attention to detail pay off—Understanding executive needs allowed us to create an intuitive, high-impact solution.
2. Early testing leads to faster iteration—By failing quickly, we refined our approach efficiently based on real user feedback.
3. Storytelling enhances data comprehension—A guided experience is more effective than a dashboard overloaded with analytics.
4. Seamless integration is key—Leveraging existing design systems (WADS) enabled faster adoption and scalability.
Conclusion
By applying design thinking and prioritizing user experience, we successfully built Culture Sense—a platform that empowers Novartis leaders to track cultural transformation with clarity and confidence. This case study highlights how UX research, iterative design, and a strong feedback loop can create data-driven, user-friendly solutions that align with business goals.
This structured version ensures clarity, highlights key challenges, and provides a compelling narrative of how Culture Sense was designed, tested, and optimized. Let me know if you need further refinements! 🚀
This structured version ensures clarity, highlights key challenges, and provides a compelling narrative of how Culture Sense was designed, tested, and optimized. Let me know if you need further refinements! 🚀