Building a UX Center of Excellence at Comcast ULearn

The content was technically fine. Instructional designers had built it carefully, compliance had approved it. But fewer than one in five employees who started a course finished it, and nobody could say why, because nobody was measuring the experience. ULearn was Comcast’s bet on replacing a legacy SAP system during the Great Resignation. The new UX function had to prove, quickly, that it was worth keeping.

I was brought in as Senior Program Manager to structure and operationalize that function. Over time, that work evolved into a recognized UX Center of Excellence: a team that could deliver UX work directly, introduce user-centered methods, and teach the broader organization how to apply them.

Using measurement to make UX credible

Completion on started content was below 20%, but completion alone was not enough to win over skeptics. I introduced SUS as a usability benchmark to make UX more measurable and defensible. Untouched products typically scored in the 40s to 50s, while products we directly iterated on could reach 68+ within two to three sprint cycles.

Structuring the function to scale

The UX team had mixed seniority and limited maturity: six designers total, two senior and four much more junior practitioners. I was the only person on staff with enterprise UX leadership experience, and carried coaching across the team without a formal reporting line. I defined the function as a Center of Excellence and introduced a tiered engagement model so teams could get the right level of UX support without every request becoming a full redesign effort.

Reducing UX drag and expanding capability

Early on, UX could add a full sprint to delivery timelines. By reshaping the service model, bringing in stronger external talent, and building enablement paths for lower-complexity work, we reduced that burden to roughly two to three days over six months, a 33% reduction from peak. I extended UX capability beyond the core team through coaching and facilitation, and made enough noise about Adobe XD that we eventually moved to Figma.

Reflection

This work taught me that early-stage UX functions in enterprise environments earn trust by becoming measurable, understandable, and sustainable. At Comcast ULearn, I made UX legible to the business: first through evidence, then through service design, and finally through enablement that let the function scale beyond the boundaries of the team itself.