Understanding user needs is the foundation of UX, but adoption is what makes solutions truly valuable. At Weir, a global industrial manufacturer, the SMART Factory team thought they knew what factory operators needed. Yet their solutions were being ignored (or even physically broken!).

This talk shares how Weir’s UX team partnered with engineers to uncover real user needs, the creative methods required to co-create digital and physical tools that operators embraced, and how the UX team brought the factory floor into the boardroom to win global stakeholder buy-in.

What you'll learn:

1. User engagement is critical to innovation, and to making it stick
2. Use your users (the subject matter experts!) when you're designing solutions
3. Creative storytelling wins stakeholder buy-in

This session explores what happens when design meets politics, including, when evidence, policy, and public opinion collide. Drawing on real government projects, Jane shows how design decisions are never neutral, how to recognise political risks early, and how to stay true to user-centred design in complex environments.

Jane Dolan is a user research and service design consultant with over 30 years’ experience working across UK government, defence and public services. Ethical and empathetic in her approach, she specialises in complex and politically sensitive domains, keeping real human needs at the centre of digital services.

Jane leads The Dolan Method and supports teams to design evidence-based, ethical services grounded in robust research. She is also co-founder of ResearchU Ltd, providing certified trauma-informed research training for practitioners working in high-risk and sensitive environments.

Organizations face a significant challenge in balancing the rapid pace of AI innovation with the critical need for risk management and trust. While projections for AI investment are high, with some estimates suggesting it could account for 10-12% of technology budgets, a more cautious and critical approach is necessary.

Andy's talk will explore why firms should resist the pressure to blindly adopt AI and instead treat it like any other new technology investment. We'll discuss the importance of being agile while also maintaining a strong focus on managing risk, building trust, and critically evaluating the real-world implications of AI implementation before committing significant resources and how to differentiate ourselves, beyond the GenAI hype.