Building a UX Practice at a SaaS Startup

I joined Plytix as its first and only UX hire, creating the foundations of a UX practice while continuing the hands-on research and design work.

UX Strategy Research Documentation Cross-functional

At a glance

Building the practice while doing the work

Plytix was a SaaS Product Information Management platform with no UX practice in place when I joined.

As the first and only UX hire, I spent three months making UX visible and useful while continuing to do the hands-on research and design work.

Role: First and only UX hire
Scope: Research, design and UX processes
Timeline: Three months

UX collaboration model connecting research and design with product, front-end and back-end work. — The collaboration model from the methodology guide: connecting research, design and implementation.

The decisions

Three decisions behind the practice

Make UX visible in the sprint

I documented the work so research and design could become part of delivery rather than an isolated activity.

Start with the user problem

I used the real scenario to frame the decision before proposing a feature or committing to a solution.

Work with the constraints

I looked for a shippable step while keeping the longer-term usability problem visible to the team.

Evidence

Turning UX into a repeatable way of working

I documented processes and examples so the team could see where UX fitted into product work and what it could contribute at each stage.

Sprint workflow diagram showing where UX research and design activities fit into product delivery. — Making UX visible in the sprint instead of treating it as a separate activity.

End-to-end UX process diagram documenting a repeatable workflow from problem framing to delivery. — Documenting a repeatable process the team could understand and reuse.

Structured UX proposal document used to frame a user problem, UX work and the resulting product decision. — Turning a user problem into a structured UX proposal before committing to a solution.

Outcome

A clearer place for UX in product delivery

Documented UX workflows adapted to how the team already worked.
A short methodology guide explaining my role and how UX fitted into the sprint.
A repeatable way to move from user problems to product decisions.
Shared language across product, design and development around UX work.

🔒 About the examples

The process material shown here was adapted for the portfolio. The full case study includes more context about the three-month role and the workflows I created.