speaker lineup
John Sullivan
TALK
When building becomes cheap: How my UX team reinvented itself for the age of AI
When AI started allowing anyone to generate working prototypes, interfaces, and even production-ready code, many of the skills that had made UX teams successful suddenly seemed less valuable. There were more possibilities—along with more pressure to move forward before anyone had aligned on what problem they were actually solving.
John found himself confronting a question that was creating uncertainty across his team and throughout the industry: If anyone can generate beautiful solutions, where does the experienced designer create value?
In this talk, he’ll share how his team redefined its role by moving away from designing artifacts and toward designing decisions using Agentic Intent Design, a methodology for turning ambiguity into an opportunity to clarify intent, explore competing possibilities, and align teams before committing to a solution. This led to a fundamentally different understanding of where UX creates value when execution is no longer the hardest part of building software.
ABOUT THIS SPEAKER
John Sullivan (he/him) is senior manager of digital experiences at Pega, where he leads the UX team responsible for business applications and digital properties including Pega Community and Pega Academy.
Over the past decade, he’s worked across learning, content, design, and digital strategy, helping teams turn complex problems into practical experiences. More recently, his work has focused on helping UX teams adapt to AI-driven change and redefining where design creates value when execution is no longer the bottleneck.
Outside of work, you can find him gravel biking, hiking, or skiing depending on the season; playing music solo or with his band; and making memories with his two young children.