UX Team Foundation (SLB)

Established the first UX team and practice at SLB’s Norwegian Tech Centre, serving six B2B programs (~30 products). Built a proficient team in weeks via innovative onboarding and capability building. The model was adopted across other tech centres.

Year: 2022-2023
Company: SLB
Industry: Energy
Role: Senior UX Manager

Challenge

SLB's Norwegian Tech Center had no design practice despite serving six B2B programs with approximately 30 products and services. The organization operated with engineering-first culture where UX was ad-hoc at best. Design talent required 9-12 months to become productive due to highly complex energy science domains. The center needed systematic design capability that could deliver impact at scale without traditional lengthy onboarding.

Approach

Practice Foundation

Established first UX team at center level with charter to democratize design access across all programs
Developed organizational model optimizing for scale and impact over traditional embedded designer structure
Created foundational processes, standards, and workflows enabling consistent design practice

Team Building

Hired and onboarded four designers in weeks rather than 9-12 months through innovative capability building
Developed training and documentation helping designers navigate complex science domains efficiently
Built proficient team capable of serving multiple concurrent programs at enterprise scale

Organizational Adoption

Established partnerships across organization advancing UX from peripheral to strategic
Demonstrated organizational model effectiveness leading to adoption across all other tech centers globally
Created scalable approach to introducing design practice in complex regulated environments

Outcome

Team building: Built proficient team in 6 weeks compared to previous 9-12 month onboarding timeline.

Global rollout: Organizational model adopted across all SLB tech centers worldwide within 2 months of initial implementation.

Scale impact: Demonstrated that democratized design access model could serve six programs (~30 products) more effectively than traditional embedded structure.

Methods & Deliverables
Methods: Qualitative research, Interviews, Workshops, Organizational design
Deliverables: 0→1 Launch, Product Vision, Training Curriculum, Documentation, Roadmap, Processes

Tags: Leadership/Org Design, Energy, Regulated industry, Team building, Company-wide adoption, Global rollout, Enterprise, Norway