Maturing the writer role into an embedded design partner
I challenged outdated handoff models and redefined where and how content contributes—collaborating inline with product design from discovery to launch.
Project snapshot
Challenge
Our client’s high-profile fiber interconnect project was being produced with a waterfall “design-then-write” model that siloed writers, forced last-minute copy fixes, and risked costly rework under the program’s tight, 2-year timeline.
Insights
Listening sessions with UX writers revealed that late engagement, separate tooling, and fragmented reviews were draining institutional knowledge, inflating review cycles, and slowing delivery across releases.
Solution
We introduced 5 operational shifts—moving content upstream, co-creating in Figma with designers, forming one cross-disciplinary UX squad, consolidating reviews, and shipping copy straight from design files—to replace hand-offs with continuous, in-context collaboration.
Result
The new model cut stakeholder meetings by 50%, let developers ship final copy from a single source of truth, and accelerated delivery by 40%, generating clear time and cost savings for the client.
"I strongly believe content writers and designers delivered their best work when they became genuine partners. The new human-centered approach improved our productivity, client conversations, and final results, enabling richer collaboration and significantly shorter lead times on additional projects."
The writer role was disconnected from design
I started by listening. UX writers across teams shared common stories that highlighted deeper issues in how we worked:
Introduced too late to make a difference in product design
Content joined the conversation after design was finalized. With information architecture already set, writers were expected to clean up screens—not help shape the experience.
Little time to solve complex problems or iterate
Writers raced to move through reviews and deliver on time. The pace allowed little time to revise, explore, or resolve complex design problems with better content solutions.
Institutional knowledge faded between phases
With no thread across releases, writers revisited old questions without product context or access to previous exploration and repeated work that had already been done.
Raising critical issues meant risking delivery
Addressing major UX gaps meant expensive development rework. Writers were expected to wordsmith and use verbose content to work around broken foundations.
"It felt very much like an assembly line where many times, the writer wouldn't even get to know the details of a project until the wireframe designs were basically complete."
We knew the model would break under pressure
This high-visibility project required a level of speed and agility that our existing resourcing, tools, and processes couldn’t support.
Rather than waiting for ideal conditions or a break that would never come, we experimented alongside active sprints. Each sprint would allow us to experiment without slowing down and demonstrate our model worked under real project pressures.
With 5 strategic changes, we reimagined how we work
With backing from our leadership and client partners, we reimagined when, where, and how content design fit into product work.
To address our biggest points of friction, we focused on five key operational changes:
1. When we worked
Right away, we moved content upstream to close the systemic divide between UX designers and UX writers. Joining earlier gave us space to challenge outdated systems, tools, and delivery expectations.
2. Where we worked
Next, we brought content into Adobe XD (and later Figma), collaborating in the same files as our design partners. No more outdated docs, duplicative handoffs, or unclear sources of truth.
3. How we worked
We formed a single cross-discipline UX team—no longer “design” and “content,” just UX. As we began working in the same space, we clarified roles, expectations, and responsibilities. Shared work sessions replaced “quick calls,” and collaboration became continuous, not transactional.
4. How we reviewed
After a few sprints of attending each other’s review calls, we merged into a single joint review. With aligned fidelity expectations, we cut meetings in half while giving stakeholders a clearer view of the full experience.
5. How we delivered
We stopped duplicating work into separate copy decks or redlines and delivered directly from the design tools. Dev partners could inspect, grab, and ship content from a single source—reducing discrepancies and enabling 40% earlier delivery.
5. How we delivered
We stopped duplicating work into separate copy decks or redlines and delivered directly from the design tools. Dev partners could inspect, grab, and ship content from a single source—reducing discrepancies and enabling 40% earlier delivery.
Looking back, the biggest catalyst for change wasn’t a tool or process—it was clear, proactive communication within our team.
Once the work was visible and expectations explicit, the pace and trust picked up.
What worked emerged over time—and we shared it
Our team developed a radically different model through continuous experimentation, testing, and reflection. It demonstrated time and cost savings that we wanted to extend to all UX teams and client partners.
Before scaling more broadly, we invited adjacent teams into the process. Our team shared what had changed, what we had learned, and how we navigated hurdles—redefining roles, expanding contribution opportunities, and reshaping collaborative boundaries along the way.
Key operational changes
What wasn’t working: Content engaged after key design decisions were made
- Writers retrofitted messaging into prebuilt wireframes
- Little or no influence on information architecture (IA) and terminology
- Content treated as cosmetic polish instead of a strategic discipline
- Product teams worked with designers and writers weeks apart, with no overlap
What we enabled: Content embedded at the start of UX exploration
- Content shaped IA, sequencing, and progressive disclosure
- Every flow had purposeful, user-first messaging from the start
- Fewer rewrites and handoffs, less backtracking, clearer ownership
- UX issues surfaced earlier while they were still easy (and cheap) to fix
What wasn’t working: UI designs and content lived in separate tools
- UX lost time chasing down the latest draft content or designs
- Copy docs were single-use change logs that required tedious markup
- No shared visibility into flows, states, or components across roles
- Separate tooling and activities reinforced disciplinary territories and silos
What we enabled: One shared design tool for the full UX team
- One interactive, up-to-date source of truth to reference and maintain
- Parallel opportunities for synchronous and asynchronous collaboration
- Shared visibility into designs, flows, and content as it evolved
- Reclaimed hours lost to duplicating and syncing work between tools
What wasn’t working: Writers and designers worked in separate, consecutive tracks
- Collaboration was minimal or nonexistent, limited to asynchronous comments
- Design files didn’t account for placeholder, default, error, and empty states
- Team feedback cycles were slow, fragmented, and iterated only at the feature level
- Staggered workflows led to missed opportunities to collaborate and potential rework
What we enabled: One UX team with real-time collaboration and shared ownership
- Content and design co-created in real time without baton-passing
- New voices shared creative solutions during internal jams and reviews
- Active participation across roles deepened trust and improved team dynamics
- Shared ownership fueled quality, momentum, and alignment
What wasn’t working: Design and content reviewed in separate workstreams
- Brand, Legal, and Accessibility reviews had to happen twice every time
- Product owners had to onboard teams, share access, and repeat context twice
- Low-fidelity UI with zero-fidelity ‘lorem ipsum’ limited useful feedback
- Gaps between workstreams led to misalignment and last-minute surprises
What we enabled: Content and design reviewed together where possible
- Stakeholders reviewed higher-fidelity experiences earlier—in half as many UX meetings
- External feedback was more actionable, complete, and timely
- Brand, Legal, and Accessibility reviews happened in parallel or as one request
- Supported earlier pivot, faster decision-making, and earlier approvals
What wasn’t working: Separate delivery timelines and fragmented sources of truth
- Future design artifacts continued with outdated or placeholder copy
- Production was the only complete representation of the delivered UX
- Every release required an extra feature to clean up content
- Reviews, implementation, and QA required stitching together 2 artifacts
What we enabled: Simultaneous, early delivery of content and design
- No more need for dedicated copy cleanup work and QA
- Design files included all placeholder, default, expected error, and empty state permutations
- Gave PMs, devs, QA, and accessibility testers earlier access to final content
- Minimized copy discrepancies between delivery and what was built
| Operational change | What wasn't working | What we enabled |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Moved content upstream |
Content engaged after key design decisions were made
|
Content embedded at the start of UX exploration
|
| 2. Centralized collaboration into one tool |
UI designs and content lived in separate tools
|
One shared design tool for the full UX team
|
| 3. Formed one cross-discipline UX team |
Writers and designers worked in separate, consecutive tracks
|
One UX team with real-time collaboration and shared ownership
|
| 4. Consolidated review checkpoints | Design and content reviewed in separate workstreams
|
Content and design reviewed together where possible
|
| 5. Combined design & content deliverables |
Separate delivery timelines and fragmented sources of truth
|
Simultaneous, early delivery of content and design
|
"We recognized the need to gradually scale the framework and the roles of the team to increase resourcing mobility. Joey was instrumental in ensuring this project was staffed correctly, even though it required him to wear several hats. He played a significant role in advancing the work forward."
With each iteration came new questions and clarity
We listened to concerns and continued iterating alongside our day-to-day delivery. That feedback helped us validate what might, or might not, work across different teams and project contexts. It also made clear that any shared framework needed built-in flexibility that accommodated different team structures, timelines, and delivery models.
Not everyone was ready to change how they worked or bring stakeholders into another design tool.
Some questioned if our model could even work beyond our project. We didn’t see that as resistance, but as actionable input that’d make our system more robust and flexible.
We stayed curious and adjusted without losing momentum. Feedback turned into design prompts, and conversations turned into deeper understanding.
We saw how team needs, constraints, and approaches varied—and used those differences to refine our model. Each iteration brought us closer to a framework that balanced consistency with flexibility, and the more we adapted together, the more skeptics became champions.
"We didn’t just practice human-centered design—we applied it to ourselves."
We landed on a tested, repeatable way of working that strengthened reviews, reduced rework, and helped teams deliver final content and design earlier.
- Closed gaps between design and UX writing
- Closed gaps between content and support writing
[ Flexible framework and documenting major outcomes, gaps closed, and lasting impact]
[Quotes!]
MMMMM
A few non-negotiables ensured design and content stayed aligned upstream, but everything else was modular.
What started as a focused effort to improve how content and design worked together ended up transforming how our studio collaborates.
The changes weren’t perfect—and they weren’t meant to be. We designed just enough structure to meet our immediate needs, then kept iterating based on what worked in practice. The more we shared, the more others contributed, adapted, and refined the model for their own teams.
Along the way, new habits took hold. Designers and writers learned from each other. Teams got clearer, faster, and more confident in how they delivered. Communication barriers broke down. Cross-functional trust grew. And over time, what started as a small shift became the new standard.
Our original blueprint—built for our project’s specific tools, roles, and resourcing—went through rounds of adaptation. It’s no longer tied to one team or timeline. Today, it’s a flexible foundation teams can tailor to fit how they work, what they deliver, and who they partner with.
Let me know if you want a final sentence that ties it to your own career growth or next steps.
One experiment continues to shape how we work today
From
We set out to prepare for a delivery problem, but in the process redefined how our entire studio approaches UX collaboration.
Our operations weren’t perfect and were initially planned to address our project team’s evolving needs.
What started as a set of experiments became a shared model. And the more we adapted it together, the more trust we earned. That trust scaled—across disciplines, teams, and ultimately, outcomes. But the clarity, flexibility, and collaboration we built proved resilient—and impacts worth sharing.
Since handing off this model, the framework continues to mature through ongoing feedback and experimentation. Future teams are using it as a springboard—not a script
- We shipped
- communication this type of work internally (surface it during planning meetings, announcement email…) and externally (changelog, blog post).
- We shipped the changes and were able to turn a grassroots project into a formally managed project.
- This project raised and reinforced awareness of the need for accessibility improvements.
- It drove attention to the Heroku Accessibility guild from leadership. This project served as a success story for product accessibility in the company.
- We wrote a blog post about the project, which was a great public-facing story to tell.
- This project was only possible thanks to a great cross-team collaboration and the team’s passion for building accessible products.
- Improving the accessibility of Heroku became a top priority for the Product and Engineering team and was included as a funded project in the team’s yearly charter. The company invested in a Voluntary Product Accessibility Template (VPAT) audit by a third-party which gave us an exhaustive list of accessibility issues to address. I’m extremely proud to say the team has fixed most of those issues since then and now everyone can see Heroku’s Accessibility Conformance Report on the Salesforce site.
We landed on a tested, repeatable way of working that strengthened reviews, reduced rework, and helped teams deliver final content and design earlier.
- Closed gaps between design and UX writing
- Closed gaps between content and support writing
What we’d do differently
Give more space for shadowing early on. Joining each other’s team rituals sooner may have built mutual understanding and trust faster.
Document less, standardize more. We sometimes over-documented before confirming what was actually useful across teams.
Start with a shared mental model. Aligning on a few definitions and intent upfront (e.g., “what does done look like?”) could’ve saved time later.
What surprised us
Ops work unlocked better design. The operational changes weren’t just logistical—they enabled better creative decisions and clearer outcomes.
Skeptics became champions. Once collaborators saw the value, they often became the biggest advocates for scaling the model.
A few extra meetings saved a lot more later. Investing in aligned reviews early freed up time for priorities downstream.
What we’ll take forward
Proactive communication beats perfect process. Visibility and clarity moved work forward faster than any new tool.
Flexibility makes change stick. Our most successful standards were the ones designed with room to flex per team or project.
Designing operations is still design. We treated ops as an ongoing design problem—and it paid off.
One new baseline for all UX collaboration
Our original blueprint—built to solve one project’s specific delivery challenges—eventually became unrecognizable.
Today, our human-centered design practice uses a flexible framework that teams adapt to fit their tools, team sizes, delivery models, and client contexts.
Refined through real delivery
Every part of our framework was reshaped to consider actual project demands and cross-functional input.
Anchored but flexible
Non-negotiable alignments ensure design and content stay upstream together, but other components are modular and adaptable.
Scalable for any team
Whether there's a team of writers or one, the framework scales to meet goals, staffing, and deliverables.
Software tool-agnostic
Applies across platforms and disciplines as tools differ or change over time, the model doesn't fall apart.
Enables cross-platform mobility
Shared structure and communication expectations let writers and designers quickly onboard and ramp up.
Collaboration ready
Equips teams to collaborate clearly and efficiently—whether in real time or asynchronously.
"I worked with the designers so much more directly than before. From them, I learned about how design works, best design practices, and how content ties into it all - and it directly informed how I tailored my resume for my next opportunity."
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Leading content strategy and delivery for first responder tools
Incubating a sustainable digital twin solution from idea to IP
🔒 Developing a new content style for in-app support content
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