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Product & Management Stage

Macie Rzecznika Praw Użytkownika? – Yhm…

September 18, 2025 10:25 AM
Power Talk
🇵🇱 Polish
Bratysława 1

About

Czy użytkownik naprawdę potrzebuje Rzecznika? Yhm. Ale czy to jakoś realnie przekłada się na waszą codzienną pracę? Yhm. Czy użytkownik rzeczywiście „siedzi przy stole”? Yhm. No dobrze – ale to pomaga w biznesie? Yhm. A czy…? Wpadnij na prezentację, a zobaczysz, co się dzieje, gdy naprawdę potraktujesz użytkownika serio – i jak wpływa to na sposób projektowania, doskonalenia produktu, komunikację, analitykę, działanie organizacji i decyzje biznesowe.

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Talk by

Photo of Bartłomiej Kozieł, Dyrektor Product Design at Wirtualna Polska Media S.A.
Bartłomiej Kozieł
Dyrektor Product Design at Wirtualna Polska Media S.A.

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From the recording

Talk in brief

At WaysConf 2025, Bartłomiej Kozieł, Director of Product Design at Wirtualna Polska Media S.A., shares how the company transformed its product culture by establishing and empowering the role of the User Rights Ombudsman (Rzecznik Praw Uűytkownika). Facing severe UX challenges two years prior—including invasive ad layouts, dark patterns, and a lack of product-oriented thinking—Kozieł utilized executive-backed veto power to halt user-hostile changes. By implementing a "100-day plan," building a network of internal ambassadors, and transitioning from an agency-style service model to collaborative product triangles (UX, IT, and Product Owners), the design team earned a permanent seat at the decision-making table. To balance fast-paced, revenue-driven A/B testing, they introduced hard guardrails like "Ad Density" limits and the "L-brand" qualitative index. Today, user satisfaction metrics are presented directly to the board monthly, shifting the company from conflict-driven vetoes to proactive, partner-based product development.

Key takeaways

  1. 01

    Executive Backing and Veto Power

    Securing top-management support is the most critical factor for driving UX change in a large organization. At Wirtualna Polska, the board publicly granted the User Rights Ombudsman veto power, enabling them to block user-hostile features.

    Watch from 7:23
  2. 02

    Internal UX Ambassadors

    Building an alliance across departments by appointing UX ambassadors helps detect and address user-experience issues early in the development cycle. These allies help spread user-centric thinking and flag problematic initiatives before they launch.

    Watch from 9:15
  3. 03

    Transitioning to Product Triangles

    Moving away from an agency-style ticket-handling model requires restructuring teams into collaborative product triangles consisting of UX, IT, and Product Owners. This structural shift ensures that designers act as strategic partners solving core problems rather than mere visual executors.

    Watch from 10:51
  4. 04

    Guardrails for Revenue-Driven A/B Tests

    To prevent short-term revenue-focused A/B tests from slowly degrading the user experience, organizations must establish hard guardrails like an 'Ad Density' limit. This metric acts as a structural ceiling that prevents teams from continuously adding intrusive banners.

    Watch from 15:13
  5. 05

    The User Rights Code

    Creating a formalized 'User Rights Code' provides a clear set of design commandments that teams must respect, treating violations as formal compliance issues. This framework, combined with regular internal communication, keeps user advocacy highly visible across the company.

    Watch from 17:24
Read edited transcript highlights

These concise notes were edited from automatic captions and checked against the talk structure. They are not a verbatim transcript.

Inheriting a Challenging UX Landscape

When entering Wirtualna Polska, the design leadership faced a highly challenging environment characterized by weak UX and a lack of product culture. The layout of the portals was heavily dominated by advertising banners, sometimes completely overshadowing the company's own branding. Furthermore, the platforms utilized frustrating dark patterns, such as resetting a user's scroll position to the top of the page after they clicked an article and pressed back, solely to force them to view the top banner ad again. Designers were forced to work within a rigid, sacred advertising grid, leaving little room for genuine user-centric design.

Watch from 0:58

The Power of Executive Backing and the Veto

To successfully champion user rights in a large organization, having strong executive backing is absolutely essential. At Wirtualna Polska, the CEO and top management publicly announced the appointment of the User Rights Ombudsman and granted the role a formal veto power. This authority allowed the ombudsman to block any proposed feature or layout change that would severely harm the user experience. To solidify this position, the speaker established a '100-day plan' to institutionalize the role, demonstrate immediate value, and build long-term authority within the company.

Watch from 6:41

Shifting from Agency to Product Triangles

True organizational change cannot be achieved alone; it requires building a strong network of allies. The design team appointed UX ambassadors across different departments to flag problematic initiatives early in their development. More importantly, they restructured how teams worked, moving away from an agency-style model where designers merely executed minor visual requests. Instead, they established product triangles comprising IT, Product Design, and Product Owners, ensuring that UX designers became strategic partners focused on solving core user problems.

Watch from 8:52

Countering Revenue-Driven A/B Tests with Ad Density Limits

In a highly commercial environment, revenue-focused A/B tests present a major challenge because they yield quick financial data, whereas UX metrics like satisfaction and NPS take longer to show trends. To prevent teams from continuously degrading the user experience for short-term financial gains, the company introduced a hard guardrail called 'Ad Density.' This metric set a strict limit on the proportion of advertising allowed on a page, effectively blocking teams from adding more banners even if a temporary A/B test suggested it would increase revenue.

Watch from 14:03

The Love Brand Metric and User Advocacy

To help the organization understand how users truly feel about their products, the design team developed the 'L-brand' (Love Brand) metric. This index combined quantitative loyalty data, such as visit frequency, with qualitative satisfaction surveys, assigning bronze, silver, or gold badges to different services. This visual rating system made it clear to stakeholders that high traffic did not necessarily mean users were happy with the experience. Additionally, they established a 'User Rights Code'—a set of ten commandments used to evaluate and prevent user experience violations.

Watch from 15:54

Achieving a Collaborative Partnership

Two years after embarking on this transformation, the relationship between the design team and other departments has evolved significantly. While the early days were marked by conflict and the frequent use of the ombudsman's veto, today the process is highly collaborative. Teams from sales, technology, and product management now proactively consult with the UX team before launching new initiatives. By demonstrating that user-friendly designs can also benefit business partners and technical infrastructure, the design team has secured a permanent, respected seat at the decision-making table.

Watch from 18:21
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