In business, one discipline separates good organizations from great ones: they experience their product the way their customers do – not in theory, but in real life.
During my time at Intuit, every employee, regardless of role, was expected to use our products the same way a customer would. We watched people navigate QuickBooks and TurboTax without assistance and observed where they struggled.
It was often uncomfortable. Things we assumed were simple, weren’t. Steps we thought were obvious, weren’t. Friction we didn’t even know existed became impossible to ignore.
That was the point.
The exercise wasn’t just about improving the product. It was about improving decision-making. When leaders and employees experience reality firsthand, assumptions are replaced with insight. Problems become clearer. Priorities become sharper.
That mindset shouldn’t stop at business.
If the goal is to improve how people experience our city, the same principle applies. Services can’t be designed entirely from the inside and expected to work seamlessly on the outside. They must be experienced the way people actually use them. Running a city is extraordinarily complex. Trade-offs are inevitable, resources are finite and no decision will satisfy everyone.
However, complexity makes firsthand experience more important, not less.
What would change if the City’s executive leadership team regularly experienced Edmonton the way residents and business owners do? Imagine navigating downtown during rush hour while managing the ongoing road closures and detours. Or, sitting with a small business owner to understand what those disruptions mean for their customers, revenue and employees. Imagine applying for a business licence from start to finish without shortcuts or internal knowledge.
Confusing processes, unclear communication and delays may seem minor on their own, but together they shape how people experience our city.
This isn’t about criticizing frontline employees. In fact, employees often have the clearest view of what is happening on the ground. They hear directly from the people organizations serve every day, yet they often have limited access to decision-makers.
For leaders, there is tremendous value in understanding both experiences: what residents and business owners are encountering, and what employees are seeing and hearing every day. Often, the most practical solutions come from those closest to the work. They know where the low-hanging fruit exists. They can tell you what is working, what isn’t and what could be improved.
The opportunity doesn’t require a new plan or a major investment. It requires a shift in mindset from assuming the experience is understood to regularly testing it, living it and learning from it firsthand. It also requires creating opportunities to listen, breaking down barriers between leadership and frontline staff so information can flow more freely throughout the organization.
The strongest organizations build this discipline into their culture. They don’t rely solely on reports, dashboards and internal discussions. They experience their own products and services, listen to the people delivering them, and learn from what they see and hear.
Edmonton has no shortage of capable people working to make the city better. The opportunity is to ensure leadership remains connected to both the residents who use city services and the employees who deliver them, so decisions are grounded in reality, not assumptions.