Building a UX content practice from scratch
Whatfix had no content function. I covered the gap alone, then built the team to run it.
Role
UX Designer & Writer, then acting content lead. Content operations, team leadership.
Context
Whatfix, 2024–25. B2B SaaS (digital adoption).
Outcome
A funded team and an operating system, from zero
90 → 10
content backlog cleared in a single quarter, solo, before any team or framework existed
0 → 1
content practice: a funded team, a prioritization model, and a shared standard where none existed
The product
Whatfix is a B2B digital adoption platform: in-app guidance, walkthroughs, and self-help overlaid on other software. Nearly all of it is words, which is why the content behind it needed a real practice, not a backlog of ad-hoc requests. For more information, see www.whatfix.com
The chair
Building a function is a design problem too: you're designing how work flows, gets prioritized, and holds quality, not just what ships. Whatfix had no dedicated content practice; I built one, first by holding it up myself and then by structuring it for other people to run.
Context: the solo quarter
The org's writing was carried by one other writer who was struggling, and requests were piling up. I absorbed the gap. In a single quarter I took a backlog of 90+ content items down to 10: part real delivery (feature and product naming, style calls, reviews), part honest hygiene (retiring stale requests that had accumulated with no owner). That coverage is what earned leadership's trust to fund an actual team. To be precise: the 90 to 10 was me, solo, before any team or framework existed; the framework came after.
What I built: the function
With budget for hires, I structured it as one full-time writer plus an intern to get more capacity from the same money, then built the operating system the team would run on:
- A prioritization model (Eisenhower plus RICE)
- A style-and-process framework
- Training materials, all from scratch
I ran it as acting lead: daily assignments, reviews, and stepping in with product knowledge when the writing needed it.
The RICE model, tuned to the team's real reach and cadence.
Outcome, honestly qualified
The function went from nonexistent to operating: a prioritization system, a shared standard, and a team that carried work I used to hold alone. The ramp was real: new writers had a product-knowledge curve, so this was a working practice, not an instant machine.
What I carry forward
Documentation is a floor, not a ceiling. A framework is what you write down; quality is held by the person operating it daily: the reviews, the product knowledge, the standard in the room. Transferring a standard takes apprenticeship, not just a doc. If I built this again, I'd invest as much in growing that daily practice into the team as I did in writing the framework itself.
"Documentation is a floor, not a ceiling. The standard is held by the person operating it daily."